


Shot Through the Heart

by hawkeyesmyguy



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-08
Updated: 2015-03-08
Packaged: 2018-03-16 22:00:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 73,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3504275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawkeyesmyguy/pseuds/hawkeyesmyguy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A walking dead/Avengers crossover. Fun stuff! (This isn't a completed story either so be prepared for more someday!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shot Through the Heart

Every single curse Natasha knew in Russian, French, English and German ran through her head as she bludgeoned and sliced her way through the mass of advancing walkers that didn't seem to have an end. This hospital was just another in a long line of dead ends she'd been investigating in this shit-hole city.

She'd been scouring her partner's last known location for nearly a week, but all she'd found so far was an ejected net-trap arrowhead and a single broken black fiberglass arrow shaft. Her partner was almost as good as she at not leaving behind a trail, and right now she was hating him for it. 

Officially, Natasha wasn't in Savannah Georgia at all. She was supposed to be regrouping with what was left of SHIELD, Agent Hill had called her in days ago ordering her to abandon her fool's errand so they could make 'better' use of her elsewhere. Helping people that were still alive rather than chasing a ghost. But that was the whole problem, the redheaded spy refused to believe that her partner of more than ten years was dead, or worse. 

Clint Barton was nothing if not a survivor, and when he'd gone off the grid to help a reported pocket of refugees in the southern united states SHIELD had simply written him off, figuring they were rid of a thorn in their side in these already turbulent times. He wasn't exactly famous for making good life choices, but he was famous for managing to get his ass out of the worst scrapes imaginable and this was no different. Natasha wasn't going to give up on him, not until she found him alive or stood over his dead corpse. Not that she would allow the latter option. Part of the reason Clint was famous for survival was because she had been the one to keep him alive.

Natasha didn't care if SHIELD or the rest of the world burned down, she was going to find her best friend in all this mess and save him just like she always did. Ever since the outbreak of the biters, the elite assassins had turned their focus from less global matters to simple survival, helping people make their way in this ravaged world and set up literal strongholds for civilians wherever they could. It was all SHIELD sanctioned... Until Clint decided he didn't agree with his superior's decision to designate Savannah 'unsalvageable.'

Now Natasha was slogging through a veritable horror show of walking undead trying to find his stubborn ass and come hell or high water she would save him. She owed him that, no matter how many times he told her they had no debts between them. Clint Barton was her foundation, her beginning as a real human being, her conscience, her family. She wasn't going to just give up. They had never left each other behind before, and she wasn't about to start now, apocalypse or not.

The spy finally managed to work her way out of the hospital, running for the cover of the treeline of the park that was backed up against the building. She hid behind a tree trunk and watched the few walkers that had been chasing her amble out of the busted open double doors, but none of them seemed to have seen where she ran. A tiny smile crossed her full lips and she took a moment to take stock, checking her guns which she now rarely used, her large combat knife sheathed on a belt holster on her back, and bent to tug up her boots and check the hidden blades in them.

She needed to find a new place to hole up for the night, sunset was approaching and Natasha was barely making due on what she could scrounge up during her runs into the city in daylight. She had been retreating to an old GARDA truck she'd hot wired outside a bank on the edge of the city, but it ran out of gas this morning and so far she hadn't found any to refill it and was forced to leave it behind to further her search area. 

Suddenly Natasha's finely honed senses alerted her to the fact that she wasn't alone. It wasn't a biter, they took no care to make their movements or breathing silent. Whoever her company was, they were very skilled in both. But there was only one man on earth who could sneak up on Natasha Romanov, and he was out in the city somewhere in who knew what kind of trouble.

The redhead continued acting as though she wasn't aware she was being observed, settling down on one knee and making a show of stretching out her back bracing against the tree she was standing behind. Just a little closer... She thought, waiting for her unknown shadow to risk creeping nearer, her hand hovering just above the hidden throwing blade in her left boot.

Daryl was well adjusted by now to the change in the world, hell it had been at least a year since he saw any real ‘home’ or civilization in general. Everything had gone to shit and it was something he accepted and dealt with long ago. He had a family… one day, sort of, not by blood but they functioned a hell of a lot better than his real one. The prison had been over run, shot down and compromised and the people he had come to know so well took off, parted ways with empty promises of sticking together until the end.

He supposed that end had come long ago but no one wanted to acknowledge that part quite yet. When the ‘Governor’ came, shot down who he could and a war broke out there was nothing they could do to stop it. He wasn’t even certain the cause of their newest hell was put to rest but he wanted nothing more to ensure it was true. So here he was, on his own with nothing left by a few rounds to his pistol, limited supply of arrows, two knifes adorning his hip and thigh and his trusty crossbow hanging loosely in his hands.

The trained tracker followed a path, one that hardly seemed to be from a walker and too fresh to be someone from the prison group. He was certain that by now they had made it out and far, their separation happened weeks ago and yet here he was still lingering in the woods like he might come upon something worthwhile. Or maybe he had secretly given up, wandered aimlessly just for something to do, pretended he had a task when really he wasn’t even sure he cared to survive. There was nothing left, no one.

His dirt and blood soaked fingers flexed around his weapon of choice, tightening against the slim worn trigger that he was almost certain was now formed for his own finger. He heard the ruckus, hadn’t missed the flood or red hair that passed through a swarm of geeks and he watched her pick them off one by one as she tore down the street and into the back woods. This was his domain in his eyes, living outside even in this world was always his choice over the indoors. His eyes narrowed to the crushed up leaves and he followed where she went, nearly crossing into his campground as he side stepped over the wire that tied pans and pots across the trees, low enough that if a walker passed it would wake him should they start to clink.

Daryl rose up his bow slowly, silently taking aim towards the tree she opted for and he inched closer with a mind to simply draw his blade to her throat, after all he had been through, rescue missions hardly seemed worth the fight anymore. He came round and she was bent at the hip, braced near the trunk of a tree and fidgeting with her boot and to any untrained eye they might think it was simply that but a woman that handled herself as well as she seemed to, had to be housing more than a sock in there. She wriggled a little and the movement distracted him enough that his blue gaze faltered down to her rear with the end of her bounce, absently wondering if she knew he was there or not.

She pounced, whirled around and drew her weapon, swinging at him and he ducked her arm just as easily, letting his bow fall from his grasp, slipping round to his back on the belted holster it came with and instead he made a grab for the large knife on his thigh, yanking it free and surging towards her just in time to take feel the sharpened edge of her tiny blade skim against his cheek and with a solid thunk it stuck into the tree behind him. He winced at the sting of pain but now she was left with a large blade on her hip, her fingers wriggling and the tiniest of smirks on her pretty face seemingly satisfied with her little game, whatever it was.

“Cute. But yah missed.” He snipped at her, grabbing his bow again when she made the attempt at reaching for her second blade. He tossed his into the dirt in the same quick easy movement, lining up his sight and getting in her space. The man said nothing at first, his jaw clenching and his teeth going tight in his mouth, contemplating her next movement. He could fight or he could ask and let her move forward. With or without him. “How many walkers you kill? How many people you kill?... Why?” He demanded simply.

 

Natasha's finely honed senses were all in overdrive, in seconds she analyzed her adversary and took in a thousand details about him. He was obviously a seasoned survivor, his stance was confident but his gaze was wary, and the fact that his weapons were all well worn but meticulously maintained spoke volumes about his skills in fighting and hunting.

Her full lips curved up ever so slightly in a grin as she watched the shallow cut on his cheek well up with bright red blood and her scarlet brow arched up quizzically. "Did I really miss though?" She asked in a low tone, watching as the man's tense set started to slacken and his sharp narrow gaze wavered. His grip on his crossbow faltered and Natasha quickly sidestepped to avoid the bolt he fired wildly as he sank to his knees in the dead leaves, a confused grumble escaping his lips as he fell forward heavily to the ground.

Natasha glanced back at the open yard to make sure no walkers were coming this way, then daintily stepped over the large man's prone form to retrieve her gleaming little blade. She looked down at him over her shoulder and shrugged as she carefully replaced the weapon in her boot. She made a tsking noise and walked back over to crouch by the unconscious man's head. "Nerve poison. I'm afraid old habits die hard." The assassin reached down and checked for a pulse, finding one she stood back up and brushed off her hands on her skinny jeans.

"Fortunately for you the dose you got wasn't fatal. But lying prone in the open for hours just might prove to be." She informed him despite the fact that he was deaf and blind to the waking world. Natasha sighed and carefully picked her way through the trees, leaving the rough man for fate to decide if he would see another sunrise.

Really Red? Just gonna leave him there huh. She could practically hear Barton's dry chuckle as his chiding voice rang in her head, and Natasha pursed her lips as she moved quicker through the woods. Her keen and always suspicious gaze caught sight of a trip wire and she paused, following the line up to a row of suspended... Cookware? She was momentarily confused but then put it together- Geek early warning system. Clever. Natasha figured the man she'd encountered was responsible for it, and that meant two things: he had a camp somewhere close, and he was alone out here. Just like she was.

"He would've killed me. Well, tried to anyway. What do I owe him?" Natasha mused aloud as she kept searching till she found the man's camp, knowing exactly what her partner would say in response. You don't know that. But he won't get the chance t'prove himself either way if you just let him get eaten by geeks. You're better than that now Red. She heard his words like a persistent itch that wouldn't let her be, tugging at her conscience as always even when he wasn't here in the flesh. Damn archer.

Natasha laughed a little harshly, going through the stranger's scant possessions left at his campsite looking for anything she might find useful. She was a killer. She was nothing like her partner, who could so easily offer the benefit of the doubt, who took it hard every time when the people he stuck his neck out for let him down. The spy knew better than that. But still her partner's obnoxious prodding persisted as the sun sank lower and she got a small fire going, and she looked back off in the direction of the fallen stranger, wondering if he was still alive or not.

Natasha always complained at Clint for inflicting his conscience on her, but he continually persisted that it was just her own sense of what was right disguised in his likeness. Apparently he had been right since she was all alone now and still his voice was berating her for her choice to leave the stranger pray to the walkers.

Finally Natasha got up and tromped back through the trees to where the hunter was still lying at a slightly awkward angle on the ground, breathing deeply oblivious to the terrible danger lurking mere yards away. The redhead was small but strong, managing after a great deal of effort to drag his body back to his camp she had usurped for the night.

She laid him out on his threadbare woven poncho she'd found, pillowing his head on a heavy leather bag that looked like it normally belonged on a motorcycle and she wondered if he had a bike stashed somewhere nearby. But rather than doing the practical thing and going looking for it, she stayed by the fire and ate some of his rations, figuring it was a modest enough fee to charge for protecting him from walkers till he awoke.

Natasha kept up her lonely vigil all night, poking at the fire and occasionally getting up to check the perimeter for stray biters. By the time dawn broke the rugged stranger's sleep grew fitful and he finally woke, though his body was still far from able to move let alone get up and face her like he so clearly wanted from the way he was glaring at her.

"Good morning." Natasha quipped idly in Russian, picking at her nails with one of her throwing knives across the fire. "You know I've been thinking about the questions you asked me all night. I think I have an answer for you: How many walkers have I killed? Not nearly enough. How many people... Far too many. Because... It's what I am." She said in a soft but serious tone, her cool blue eyes going distant as she shrank from the seemingly endless catalog of lives she had taken over the course of her life.

"It's pointless trying to get up. The feeling will return to your extremities soon, just relax for now, hmm?" She said in an amused tone, sitting back and gazing up at the overhanging tree branches. 

Daryl slumped to the ground but not before firing a bolt at her and he could only hope that with his blurred vision and suddenly shaky hands he hadn’t missed. He opened his mouth to say something but little but a bit of drool escaped as he fell. His mind shut down slowly with his body already in completely immobility for the time being. He couldn’t do anything about it just had to accept that he was without a fight now, his eyes starting to flutter closed and he heard nothing to follow.

The next thing he recalled was waking in a familiar location, not in the place he had fallen, his back aching likely from the burn of her having dragged him back to his campsite like this. He wasn’t fully away but his facial muscles came awake first off and his eyes immediately tracked over to the burning fire that was far larger than he would have dared to make. His breathing was heavy with his growing anger and he wanted nothing more than to chew her out, to get up and drive an arrow through her skull but there was two problems with that. One, he didn’t have any movement in his arms or legs nor could he even manage to sit up and two, he had been stripped of his weaponry including his crossbow and everything that could possible do any damage to her person.

He glared at her as harshly as he could over the fire, the warmth hitting his face and he did his best to try and roll to fully face her but he couldn’t. He had to simply do what she asked of him, to lie back and relax until he could be well enough to do much of anything. So he did, never once taking his sharp blue gaze off of her even as she started to close her eyes and ordered him again to do the same until it wore out of his body.

The hunter waited and slowly the feeling in his fingers and toes then his arms and up to his hips he gained feeling again. He tested his limits and groaned as he sat up, feeling stiff throughout his body. “The fuck was that about, Lucy?” He snapped at her in a far harsher tone than he originally used when questioning her. Every move he made caused his head to throb and his muscles to burn, regretting sitting up so fast and she simply laughed at him. “Shut up. Fuckin’ lounge room singer voice o’ yours gonna call the walkers this way.”

She sat up and stared at him, making some sort of threat as he worked on rubbing at his neck trying to make his body become fully awake so he could walk, fight or leave whatever he needed to do right now. He kicked dirt at her little campfire and that only pissed her off further, ordering him to stop. “My house, my rules. Fire stays low or ain’t got none at all.” Daryl continued, feeling a little woozy but he forced himself to stand up on both feet, catching his hand on the fallen log beside him and dropping down to sit on that instead. “Eat my food too.” He pointed out, noting the empty can beside her.

“Kind of game yah playin’, Carrot Top? Drug a guy, steal his food and weapons but sleep at his fuckin’ camp?” He grumbled, his words slurring slightly from the lingering effect of the poison in his veins. “This ‘what I am’ bullshit ain’t gonna cut it. This how yah get off? Gonna make me shoot up again or somethin’ and finish the job slowly? Hate tah break it to yah but ain’t much else around.” He huffed, rubbing a hand over his face and glaring at her when she stood to offer him one of his own reused bottles of water. He snatched it from her hand and watched her carefully, wanting nothing more than to wipe that dumb smirk off her face. “You think you’re hot shit.”

Natasha appraised the man before her, he had an incredible amount of strength to be able to move so much so quickly before his body had completely broken down the poison in his system, but he like so many of the people left nowadays was incredibly short-sighted. That he simply assumed she was prowling around out here for kicks, that he saw nothing amiss about the fact that she used hidden weapons, poisons, and had no fear of building up the fire in the open... He didn't see her as a real threat, not even after spending hours completely in her power.

That was all right with her though. Natasha had spent years making her bread and butter by letting men underestimate her, manipulating them to suit her designs without them ever realizing how hilariously close to death they hovered the whole time they were around her. She had a mind to simply leave this man behind, but she had learned from years of working with Clint that when one was going into the lion's den it helped a lot to have backup. He was clearly an asset in a fight, if she could make him want to help her rather than slit her throat, maybe she could take advantage of his knowledge of the terrain and his skills against biters. Besides, she was supposed to be some kind of 'do-gooder' as Clint liked to call it, she shouldn't just leave him to die out here if they had a better chance at survival together.

"I doubt very much that you could handle what actually gets me off, Robin Hood." Natasha quipped in a sultry tone, coming to stand between his legs knowing full well there was no danger with proximity as it was taking all his strength right now to hold himself upright. He was trying to hide the fact that he couldn't quite grip the water bottle and bring it up to his lips, letting it rest on his leg like he didn't want it but she'd been taken down by that very same poison before and knew what a desperate thirst it instilled once you awoke.

She bent and plucked the bottle from his loose grip, opening it and drawing it up to her lips. "There's only one thing you need to know about me, Tracker. If I wanted to kill you... You'd be dead." Natasha murmured, tipping the cool water into her mouth and gently cupping the man's scruffy face, sealing her lips to his and letting the water flow slowly into his own mouth. He made a token effort to flinch away but he was still leaden from the poison and as soon as the water hit his tongue instinct took over, his body greedily drinking down the liquid almost in direct opposition to his own will. 

She gave him all the water she'd taken, breaking their contact and watching with a calculating stare at his reaction. He was obviously flustered by her actions but he made no move to stop her when she repeated the process, filling her mouth with water and leaning in to press their lips together again. He drank again and a soft little growl escaped him, Natasha made a mental note of how to kiss him to elicit such a sound and she found the idea of making him make that noise again more than agreeable. Just because she was manipulating him to get what she wanted, didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the process. He was handsome in his own rugged, untamed way.

Natasha felt the man's hand on her shoulder and while she knew he still lacked the strength or control to do anything she still broke away, recognizing he was trying to push her back. He cursed at her, accusing her of being crazy but she knew from long experience that her actions had gotten to him, his pupils were blown out and his breathing was ragged from more than just anger and fatigue. She kept her face close to his, showing just the right amount of guarded concern and conviction to make him believe she was being genuine when she spoke. She found the best way to twist people to her will was to use a mix of truth and lies, and in this case it would be easy for her to convey the proper emotions.

"Look. I am sorry that I had to drug you. But you didn't leave me much choice, taking my back like you did. The truth is, I'm out here looking for someone I lost." She said quietly, her fiery red hair falling in her face as she looked down and settled into a crouch before him to subconsciously make him feel she was submitting to him. "And you? You're looking for something to, aren't you. You've lost people close to you too, I can tell." She fixed him with a piercing gaze, knowing she hit the nail on the head at the way he flinched at her gentle words.

Daryl watched her come closer to him, his body still weak and strained from the poison pumping in his veins and only slowly easing its way out of his system. She stood between his legs and if he had more strength he would have pulled away, pushed at her to stand a few paces back at least or gotten up and left her so she couldn’t bug him any longer. She gave him a water bottle but he could hardly find the ability to let himself take a drink despite how much he wanted it, letting the bottle rest on the top of his leg while he watched her.

His eyes narrowed further up at her, nearly level with her on her feet and him propped on a fallen tree. She took back her offering and he did nothing to fight her mostly because he couldn’t right now, hell he could barely manage to even keep speaking up like he had been. That alone wore him out and clearly she knew, his eyes rolled slightly at her saying if she wanted him dead then he certainly would be, who the hell was this chick and what made her think she was such hot stuff especially in a world like this.

Before he could say anything the woman took a drink of water and drew down to his level, her lips meeting his and her hand on his cheek. She parted her lips just enough to let the water flow past and into his own open and unexpecting mouth. He pulled back in the slightest but there was little fight behind it when he caught taste of the cool refreshing liquid he craved so much, letting their lips linger together until there was nothing left for him to drink. He might not want the contact or he might be telling himself that he didn’t but his body was craving the water, something to quench his thirst no matter how it occurred.

His breathing picked up, caught off guard by her actions but when she took another drink he couldn’t help but ache and require for more. The tracker didn’t fight her, didn’t push her back at all as she sealed their lips again making him growl deep in his throat but he chalked it up to the want for water and nothing more, drinking down what she gave but when she didn’t break contact right after he reached up and his hand pressed to her shoulder. There was little behind him pushing at her but enough that she knew what he was trying to do, get her off of him and away from his space she was lingering in.

The redhead broke away just enough for their eyes to meet and he panted before her, his chest rising and falling from a mix of things he presumed. “The hell was that for?! Gettin’ all up on me like that, I ain’t your fuckin’ toy.” Daryl snapped at her trying his best to turn his head and wipe the edge of his mouth on the top of his shoulder. She spoke up again in a far more genuine tone, her eyes softening as she muttered her story or parts of it, saying she had lose someone and was on the hunt for them. Hell everyone had that same story about them nowadays, family gone but still were trying. Not him though, he was through looking. Wasn’t worth the time when he watched all of them die himself. He could probably bet money that her friend or whatever was gone for good too.

“I ain’t lookin’ for nobody!” He snipped at her in a voice harsher than he should have used if he was going to keep guarded. She knelt before him while she talked, her hands on his legs and he tried his damnedest to ignore the feeling entirely. He breathed heavily through his nose, huffing slightly as he stared her down, pushing her hands off of him the best that he could, the motion itself was tiring. She wasn’t wrong, he was looking for a lot of people, ‘family’ at least subconsciously he was but most of his mind thought they were gone, there would be nothing left to discover and he would get no answer.

The group separated and it might have been better that way, to never know than to watch them slowly be picked off and killed or turned one by one. She refused to let him push her away this time, running her hand back up his leg to grip it gently and then his hand that pushed at hers again. She took to his fingers and claimed she wasn’t stupid, she could see it in him, that desperation to find what you’re hunting for. Daryl shook his head and yanked his hand from her, bending to stare right at her, “Get the fuck off me. Don’t need y’all holdin’ my hand. That someone you’re lookin’ for… they’re dead. Like everybody else.” He informed her flatly.

He flung her hand off of his thigh and waited for her to move away from him considering he couldn’t do much else to escape her at the moment. “Take what yah want. I don’t care.” He muttered with a shake of his head, never once breaking eye contact with her. She stared at him almost questioningly or maybe she was trying to get a read on his responses. “What?! What do yah want? I ain’t gonna help yah look for some dead bastard. ‘Specially not after poisonin’ me ‘n stealin’ my food.”

 

"He's not dead!" Natasha snapped fiercely, she hadn't meant to react so sharply but she was sick and tired of everyone telling her to give up on her partner. She knew Clint better than anyone, more than that he was the only good part of her and he was alive, he had to be. She would accept no other reality.

"I realize that you couldn't possibly comprehend a wider scope beyond what you can sight down your crossbow, but the man I'm searching for has done more for you and this world than could ever be quantified. Not only is he alive, he's out there somewhere in that death trap of a city keeping a group of civilians alive and they're just lucky he's cursed with the heart and strength of will not to abandon them!" Natasha fumed, flinging the empty water bottle off into the trees and kicking her empty can with all her force in the opposite direction.

The rough-edged man cursed at her telling her to keep it down, unless she wanted them to be swarmed with geeks. The spy's eyes glinted dangerously and her chin rose a few degrees. "That's exactly what I want. I'm going to pull back the curtain a bit." Natasha snipped, glancing around waiting for her prey to come to her, patient like a spider in the center of her web.

It only took a moment or two, and nearly a dozen walkers were trudging through the trees towards the man's camp. His eyes lit with alarm but he collapsed almost the instant he tried to rise up to his feet, cursing and demanding that she give him back one of his weapons at least. "Just watch. I'm about to show you why it is not I that requires your help, but the other way around." Natasha purred, bending gracefully down to take out two delicate throwing daggers from both of her boots.

The redhead put herself between the stranger and the coming wave, idly shifting her weight from one foot to the other. She had always been a close-range fighter, liked her kills to be intimate. It wasn't until the first handful were nearly upon her that the petite assassin finally sprang into action.

It was over in seconds. Natasha dispatched fourteen walkers in as many breaths, using her daggers, her heavy combat knife and finishing off the last by leaping back in a controlled tumble to where she'd stashed the stranger's crossbow, drawing it back and shooting the last biter through the right eye simply to prove to the man that she was more than competent in a variety of combat techniques.

Natasha stood and brushed off her pants, looking back over at the dark haired man who had watched her little performance with his jaw slightly slack. He saw her looking at him and quickly composed his features back into a scowl, dragging himself back into a seated position on the fallen log he's lurched off of. They waited a tense moment to see if any more geeks were coming, but silence reigned and the redhead walked back around the now almost dead fire, an expectant look on her pretty features.

"Now then. The man I'm searching for? He couldn't dispatched that many walkers in half the time it took me. You two share a unique weapon preference." Natasha murmured with a little grin as she inspected the man's crossbow closely before setting it with all due respect gently back on the ground.

"Look, if you're searching around here, it's just as likely as not that the people you hope to find are under my partner's protection. Fight with me, and perhaps we'll both find what we're looking for." Natasha said with conviction, taking the man's own hunting knife from her jacket and handing it to him handle first in a gesture of good faith. He might have hardly any strength at the moment, but he could still do damage to her at this distance.

Daryl shot up as she yelled, grumbling for her to keep her trap shut before he made her, not that he could do anything to force her to shut up at all. He glared at her when she continued and the snarling of walkers started up not far off, attracted by her shrill voice. “You’re fuckin’ crazy. Gimme my knife or my bow!” He demanded for her to give up one of his weapons she was holding hostage but she refused.

He watched in awe as she started up a fight, taking down walker after walker while he simply sat there, unable to assist like he might have wanted to. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open as she used his very own precious weapon to fire a final shot at the last lurker in the area, keeping quiet as she padded back over to him, waiting to see if there was a sign of any lingering undead but they got none.

She spoke up her demands about this man she was hunting for, that she was so certain was still alive. The tracker wasn’t so sure though but he really didn’t have a choice anymore now it seemed, she could poison him again, call walkers his way if he denied her his assistance and leave him there weak and mostly immobile to be eaten alive by those bastards. He glared at her still, watching her touch his crossbow like she knew it herself.

“Told yah I ain’t lookin’ for nobody.” He snipped in a rough whisper, his voice dry from dehydration that was made worse by her stupid move she made. He thought about Beth, having watched her be kidnapped, driven away from the home they had taken to camping in together. They knew it was occupied but he slipped up, trusted that whoever might let them linger. He’d been wrong and now the last thing he had after leaving the group when the Governor came, was gone.

The woman stared at him, seeming to know he was completely fooling even himself with the whole ordeal. She arched a brow and waited for him to argue further but he was tired, shaking his head and giving in as he let his body slip down the log so he could rest back a little more. He huffed and glanced up at her, “Fine. I’ll help yah find your damn boyfriend if you stop riskin’ our asses to prove your fuckin’ point. Sit down.” He instructed as if it would even do anything. No surprise when she simply scoffed at him.

His hand tightened around the handle of the blade she offered him back and he gave her a simple nod of thanks but refused to say much else in regards to it. “Got a name? ‘Cuz if not I’m gonna stick with Lucy.” Daryl grumbled, “Ain’t gonna be much help til the poison you put in veins pumps on out.” 

 

Natasha scoffed at the man referring to Clint as her boyfriend, but there wasn't any point in correcting a stranger about her relationship with her partner. The archer was her best friend, her tether to human decency and the most important person in her life, but she considered him like the family she had never known, making love to him would be like jumping in bed with her brother.

The corner of her full pout turned up when he asked after her name, but rather than answer immediately she popped open one of the hollow cartridges stored on her belt and palmed a tiny, single dose syringe. Quicker than thought she bent and stuck the tiny needle in the stranger's neck before he had a chance to even realize what she was doing, snatching her hand back just as quick and grinning at his irate reaction.

"Relax. It's the antidote for the poison. You're right, I need you up and around sooner rather than later, we can't afford to waste the daylight." She explained her actions, rocking back on her heels and watching patiently as within moments the brusque tracker tested his body, shaking out his limbs and standing up, rapidly freed of the poison's lingering effects.

The redhead straightened out as well, scuffing out the last dregs of the fire with her boot. "My name's Natasha Romanov, if you really feel the need to know. I put all your gear together, we should get a move out. You got a ride stashed somewhere around here?" She asked, smiling at the man's surprised expression. "Your bags. They're off a bike." She shrugged, slinging her own compact SHIELD issue survival pack on her shoulder and bending to hand him his own pack.

The taller man's expression got strained and he informed her that he'd had a bike until only recently, it had been taken from him and now they were stuck on foot. The redhead simply accepted his words, modifying her plans for searching the area accordingly, ever the pragmatic survivalist. 

"Fair enough. Are you fit enough to move out?" She asked without a drop of condescension, now that she had taken his measure Natasha wasn't interested in provoking him unnecessarily. He simply nodded, slinging his obviously well-loved crossbow over his back and walking with her towards the treeline.

The man broke the silence unexpectedly, asking her if she cared to know his name or not, calling her crazy again for not seeming to care what sort of man he was if they were going to work together to survive. Natasha glanced at him up and down, her analytical skills had already told her all she felt she really needed to know about the tracker, everything relevant to the situation anyway. But again she heard her partner's wry chuckle in her head, reminding her that people tended to find her cold at the best of times and it might help if she made an effort to be more personable and less business in her interactions.

"It didn't really seem like you were interested in sharing your life story with me, but I'll take your name if you're willing to give it." Natasha responded, smirking when he told her he was called Daryl Dixon and that she was right about him not wanting to share much else. "Fair enough. I think I prefer Tracker though." She added with a short laugh, stepping over a fallen log and making note of the signs of walkers that had come through here maybe moments ago. Her companion didn't miss them either, pausing and leveling his crossbow at the same time that she drew her knife.

They automatically took each other's back, scanning the surrounds and keeping silent listening for their less than living quarry. "On your two o'clock." Natasha whispered, glancing off to her right and the taller man nodded, taking aim and sure enough down the slope of the terrain a slavering walker was milling among the trees.

"Can you take him from here?" She asked, curious to see the man's skills in action. Her perspective on difficult shots was a little skewed considering who her partner was, but if he could hit the creature from here she would be at least a little impressed.

“The hell is wrong with you!” Daryl yelped at her driving something else into his neck. He flinched away as best he could but quicker than he expected and whatever it was she injected him with almost instantly started to take effect on him. He blinked at her, staring the woman down as she explained that it was meant to help him and not harm him further. He would have argued against that statement but really the evidence was there when he tested his shoulders, flicking out his arms and stretching the muscles and tendons loose of their tension.

He slowly worked his head back and forth, still eyeing her suspiciously for how she was acting and treating him. He got back to his feet for the first time in at least a few hours he presumed with the change in light above them through the trees, taking a few steps and stretching out his legs just the same while she finally answered his question about what her name was. “Don’t need it. Ain’t it a common thing t’ask. Formalities and shit.” He mumbled, shaking his head at her question.

He stiffened up again as he remembered how he lost his bike or rather how it had been taken from him. Wandering over to his gear she set aside for him and lugging up his crossbow, “Had a bike.” He corrected simply, “Some bastards took it upon themselves t’ take ‘er for a joy ride. Stole it. Been on foot for ‘bout a week or two. Can’t remember.” He shrugged once more, hefting his weapon and survival pack over his shoulder each in turn.

The tracker nodded at her question if he was well enough for walking and heading out, giving nothing more than that as he started forward. They walked a good bit of time, maybe ten minutes or more, keeping silent and part of it was because they both seemed the type to keep to themselves but maybe also to keep walkers at bay. Still they hadn’t seen anything quite yet so he broke that, “Ain’t yah gonna ask my name? Don’t cha care? Common courtesy.” He started on, stopping when she did and watching her eye him. “Crazy broad, I could be a killer too for all yah know.”

The woman, ‘Natasha’, stared him down right back, seeming to contemplate if she should throw him a bone or not and at least pretend to be civil. “Daryl Dixon. Damn right, ‘bout all you’re gettin’. Not much else some CIA-type chick’d wanna hear anyhow.” Daryl stated, seeing her smirk but she didn’t really address his assumption towards her occupation. He followed her, rolling his eyes at her insistence on keeping to the nickname she had opted for, “Fine, Lucy.” He quipped with a sideways little grin, bending down to examine the tracks that came through where they were currently.

His small blue eyes dropped down, narrowing further to tiny slits as he ran a finger through the dirt, deciding that there was something around, tracks were fresh enough to indicate. He straightened and took her back, walking with her a few feet with his crossbow drawn forward and he pulled back, loading it and drawing it to his face to take aim. His eyes quickly scanned the area, catching her words in nearly the same moment he spotted the biter off in the distance, good few yards. Definitely not worth the time and energy it would take to run that way but not worth the risk of sneaking up on it either, it didn’t look like it was alone, or at least it hadn’t been long ago.

He scoffed at her question, lifting his aim just about a foot above the undead’s head and pulling the trigger tight with a crook of his finger. The skull cracked, with his keen senses he could hear it in the distance even, a sadly satisfying sound, the steady thunk the body took as it feel to the ground, the groan of the walkers last ‘breath’. “Don’t ask stupid questions.” He said around another arrow he already plucked up from his quiver, sticking it in his mouth for the moment as he dropped his bow down in the dirt and propped it on his knee, taking the bolt from his lips and placing it in its place to reload.

He drew back on the tight string and left it loaded for while they walked. She asked him where he was going as he trudged off towards the fallen ‘enemy’ in the rather open field area. “Ammos hard t’ come by.” He called back softly, keeping quiet just to be on the safe side and she instantly took to covering him, with her blade drawn, waiting close by as he yanked the arrow from the walker’s rotted skull. “Ain’t alone. Got a couple friends ‘round here.” He muttered, making a high pitched whistle through his lips and teeth to grab her gaze again, nodding his head in the direction of another disturbed walk.

She glared at him for doing so, telling him not to treat her like a mutt he found trotting along. “Kinda the same thing.” Daryl responded easily, trying not to let her threats and tones get to him at all like she might have wanted. “There’s a railroad track, couple miles out. Passed it once or twice. Leads t’ most the cities in Georgia. Where’d yah last see your boy?”

 

Natasha picked her way over the uneven ground alongside her gruff new companion, considering his mention of a set of railroad tracks and pulling out her small folded up map of the area. She knew Clint would try to get what survivors from Savannah he could to the designated SHIELD refugee area in the central part of the state. She could only hope they were making the logical choice to follow near the tracks as well.

"Assuming he's left the city, I'm guessing he'd take the tracks as well. It's as good a bet as any." She surmised, folding the map back up but Daryl reached for it, asking if he could take a look and she readily handed it over. He seemed eager to be able to look at a map, maybe he hadn't had the luxury of knowing his exact location for a long while. It was surprising in this day and age just what a comfort that was. He scanned the map, finding their approximate location quickly and tracing his fingertip up along the tracks heading north.

"There's a cleared safe zone about eleven miles north and one mile northwest from the tracks." Natasha reached her arm over and tapped her fingertip on the marked blue area on the paper. "That's where he'll take them. Fortified walls, running water, electricity, basic medical care. Heading towards it is our best bet." The redhead advised, taking the folded map back when he handed it back over to her. He was eyeing her as they walked and she could practically see the questions floating above his head, sighing and shaking her head.

"I work for a global paramilitary organization who's chief concern since the outbreak has become preserving as many human lives as possible. We've slowly been branching out over this country, trying to find survivors and eliminate the walkers." Natasha explained, less concerned with secrecy now considering she was essentially awol looking for her partner. Daryl seemed to accept her words at face value, he clearly still had more questions but that would have to be enough for him for now since Natasha wasn't in the mood for idle chatter.

The pair kept up a brisk pace for several hours, following the train tracks. A light misty rain started to fall, giving the air a clammy chill that clung to their skin and dampened their hair against their heads. Natasha slowed to a stop and opened up a small zipper pocket in her pack, her companion stopping to inspect what she was doing. The redhead extracted a dense field ration bar, one of three she had left and broke it in half, handing over the larger chunk to the tracker who took it with a fair dose of suspicion. 

"Meal replacement bars. A whole one is enough sustenance for a day, so this should keep us going awhile longer." Natasha explained, tearing into her bar and grimacing at the chalky quasi-peanut butter taste. They weren't the most delicious things in the world but they would keep them alive at least. The man ate his portion, complaining of the taste but eating every last crumb anyway, not foolish enough to turn down food when it was offered.

Natasha found she didn't mind traveling with this man nearly as much as she feared. He felt no compulsion to pester her with unnecessary questions, no need to fill the silence with frivolous words. They traveled until dusk, and came to the conclusion in nearly the same instant that it was time to veer off the tracks and find a place to dig in for the night. 

Daryl accepted her words for what they were worth right now, people always tried to get in good with him, ask what he did and he never felt it any of their business which meant in turn he never really cared to ask directly. He simply waited for people to say things or admit whatever they wanted to admit to. Sometimes fairly deep things he didn’t give two shits about but he supposed being the quiet type meant people thought he was apt for listening all the damn time.

Mostly he didn’t mind, sometimes at least, just let people talk so long as they didn’t expect him to do the same or ask questions or open up in return. She didn’t seem the type but she must have caught on based on his hard gaze that he was wondering who she really was and what she did. He wasn’t expecting that, not to that extent but he did guess she was military of some sort or CIA, FBI, something along the lines that she had the equipment she did. Hell even a map was a huge thing nowadays, something people would kill for very easily. Sounded dumb but things were different.

He wanted to know more but again he said nothing in regards to her explanation, keeping up their quick pace to wherever it was they were truly headed. The tracker wasn’t so optimistic, figured they might make it to the camp but he anticipated a flood of the dead mixed in with a few survivors. He thought about the CDC… about Woodbury and how both had more or less failed in one way or another. His ‘home’ at the prison got attacked, that dream faded and the house he found with Beth only endangered her, now here he was stuck on the road as he would always be. He came to accept that, figuring she might not be as quick to want to admit her partner was dead.

They stopped and he immediately followed her lead, waiting as she dug through her bag for something, pulling out a large protein bar of some sort only it looked like it was meant to feed the birds and not two largely hungry survivors in the wilderness. He had been hunting enough to know it was somewhat of an MRE with a single component. He took one half from her without even asking, the apprehension in his sharp stare gave way to his suspicious mind, waiting for her to take a bite herself as he sniffed at it like it might make it more appetizing. She answered his eyes easily and told him what it was, claiming it would fill them up and allow them to walk a bit further.

He tore into it and winced at the chalky feeling and nasty… supposedly peanut butter taste. “Eaten dirt better than this shit.” Daryl whined absently but despite his comments and faces he made as he ate it, he found himself licking his fingers afterwards. They silently seemed to get along or at least kind of tolerate each other because they had to more or less, she needed him supposedly and he was too stubborn to simply die or let her kill him. They veered off the tracks and he pointed in indication to a deeper part of the woods, making her furrow her brow at him.

“Best outta sight. Set up a trigger wire ‘round those four trees in the middle, brush is enough of a bed yah ain’t gotta dig a spot. Bigger leaves gonna block the rain.” He answered softly, his tone easier the more they hung out and he wanted her to know what he did. He shrugged and headed straight for it, gaze flickering up and he blocked the light rain from coming into his eyes as he appraised the area further. He bent suddenly and ran his bare hands along the ground, seeking out a dry spot, “Gonna be a small fire. Ain’t gonna be much rain tonight.” He informed her, seeing the skies weren’t quite as gloomy as they were when it started as a mist around them and slowly thickened.

He pulled off his pack and his bow, taking to his blade on his hip like this was simple routine. “Get it going. Dig into the ground keep the wind out. Gonna walk the perimeter, dig a latrine, an’ tie up the wires.” He muttered, hoping she caught it all but she seemed stuck on his idea of the wiring he lined all his campsites with. He shrugged, “Pots and pans crash, like walker warnin’ bells. You’ll sleep better at night knowin’ yah won’t wake up t’ one of ‘em gnawin’ on your ankle.” He took off to do as he said, walking a few yards out in the light rain that was beginning to let up further while he walked a border around the area, checking for walkers mostly to pass the time.

 

Natasha simply shook her head at the man's insistence that they hang an assortment of cookware around them while they slept, biting her tongue on a comment about the pans being dead weight and with two of them they could simply sleep in shifts. If this was what he needed to feel an illusion of control and security, she wouldn't rob him of it.

The petite redhead knelt in the designated area and cut into the soft turf with her own knife to ready a small pit for their fire, well versed in such tasks and by the time Daryl returned from his own appointed tasks she had a decent nearly smokeless fire going as well as plenty of space arranged for them to sleep comfortably on either side in the dryest patches she could manage. Daryl was holding a dead squirrel in one hand and he held it up to show her with a sideways grin, asking her if she'd ever had genuine Georgia roasted squirrel before and she smirked a little in response.

"Can't say that I have. Hand it over, I'll clean it while you play with your pans." She quipped, holding her hand up waiting for him to give her the animal and his features deflated a bit, perhaps he'd been hoping to shock or put her off by expecting her to eat a rodent but the truth of the matter was Natasha had eaten much worse in her day. He did as she bid and she got to work skinning and dissecting the squirrel while he put up his 'walker early warning system' as he called it.

By the time he was finished she was through cooking the meager meat and offal she could glean from the animal, handing him a tin cup with his portion and taking her own. He grunted something like a thank you as he sank down to the ground across from her, tearing into his small amount of food. Natasha watched him silently as she ate, taking the opportunity to analyze her companion further. He sensed her eyes on him and glanced up, asking in a gruff tone what she was looking at and she shrugged.

"So... Ex-army, or Marines? When did you serve?" She asked matter-of-factly, not batting an eye at his surprised reaction to her question. He asked her how she knew he was ex-military and she merely shrugged again. "It's my job to read people. You've got that look about you." She responded quietly, eating the last of her food and licking her fingers off neatly.

Daryl was more than a little shocked that his offering didn’t catch her off guard or make her run the other way or even decide that she wasn’t going to take to hanging with him at all. He strung up his pots and pans just along the first foot of the trees, tying it low enough not to see and high enough that they would kick at it should they pass. He finished up his task and no sooner did she have their improvised meal in place and cooked up, ready to eat.

He nodded a thanks and took his share, grumbling something or other that he didn’t even know what it was but she must have known it was appreciation none the less. He dropped down to the floor, his weapon close as he used his fingers to dig for the largest chunks of meat first before tossing his head back and letting the meat fall into his mouth piece by piece. The tracker had better squirrel, one of the few things that varied a lot by breed and size and color if anyone believed it and not a single one he had tasted the same. He never complained of the meat he was given, proud of every damn kill he made even a simple one like this.

She didn’t seem displeased but hardly looked satisfied by the meal, picking out piece by piece and eating it delicately though perhaps she was still full from her meal bar she consumed or something. Her blue eyes trained on him within a matter of a few moments and he didn’t miss it, not meeting her eyes but addressing her staring problem. “Help you with somethin’?” He quipped, finally glancing her way when she shrugged, “What cha lookin’ at me like that for then? Ain’t to your likin’? Not fancy enough for yah?” He questioned, licking off his thumb that had a shredded bit of meat on it. He wiped his mouth nonchalantly and waited for her to say something.

Her next thing wasn’t what Daryl anticipated or wanted her to ask about him or of him. He dropped his cup down to his leg and glared at her in shock she guessed something like that. He never told anybody, not a single thing about his past even if they asked him. His face changed and he stared her down, “How’d yah know I was ex-military?” He asked in return, watching her lick her fingers when she responded. He set aside his own remainder of his food feeling steadily less hungry now that the topic of himself was brought up. His usually reaction was to flee or get mad, avoid the questions entirely but she caught him off guard. 

She asked once more when he served and what branch. “’98 to ’04. Four years active and two reserve.” The man answered, sitting stiffly when she repeated what branch, clearly wanting to know. “Army. Went in soon as I turned 18. Ain’t do me no good.” He admitted, taking to digging into his food and again they were silent for a while. She seemed satisfied that she was right and he had been military. “Nobody’s ever guessed that. One kid thought I was a cop… FBI or somethin’. Guess ‘cuz I ain’t fazed by this shit today.” He muttered, tossing his empty cup to the side and leaning back a bit on his bags, propping himself up on his elbow as he took to his side.

Natasha watched him with intent focus and asked if he had ever been deployed, catching the years he was active. Daryl flicked at a twig to get out of his space and shook his head at her, “We ain’t gonna talk about that.” He grumbled to her but her lips parted and she questioned if he was active during the incident in New York and he knew what she was imply and asking about. His jaw went tight and he stared at her, “I told yah. We ain’t talkin’ ‘bout that. Go to sleep.” He answered with more insistence, getting down completely to lie on his back. She claimed she just wanted to know if he ever got stationed anywhere interesting or worthwhile and he looked up once more, saying nothing in return.

Natasha recorded every tiny detail of her companion's reaction to her questioning, storing away the data she was gleaning from him for possible use later. It was a tactic and a habit that had been ingrained in her and now it was as natural as breathing, she gleaned more from him than he could ever realize. He stared at her intently and she flicked a couple discarded squirrel bones into the low fire.

"You're not going to sleep, why should I? You don't want to talk about that perhaps, but clearly you're still interested in talking or you wouldn't be staring at me like you are. It's been awhile since you've had someone to talk to, hmm?" She asked quietly, her voice low and warm like the flickering fire between them. The hunter's brow knitted into a bit of a glower but he simply nodded in response.

"Me too." She murmured, shifting on the leaf-littered ground to lean back and grab a small black enameled metal flask out of her pack. It had been a gift from Clint for her 'birthday,' the day he had chosen for her to celebrate her birth since she had no idea anymore what day she actually came into the world. It was one of her most precious possessions and even holding it made her heart twist a little more from the need to find her dearest friend. She twisted off the tiny metal cap and took a pull of her strong Russian vodka. It burned going down in the best way, as always.

She had been saving her last little bit for a long time, but it suddenly occurred to her that there was little point in hanging on to much of anything in these days. It was the first touch of doubt she allowed herself, drinking down what she had meant to share with Clint when she finally found him, alive and kicking at least if not whole. But she couldn't dwell on that right now, not if she wanted to maintain her facade before this man. The best kind of interrogation was the one that your prey never realized had occurred, and if she was going to get any good information out of her companion she had to be in complete control of herself.

"I find it strange that in these turbulent times, it's your past that haunts you, not the present reality of a full blown apocalypse full of flesh eating undead. It must be quite the tale. Come on Tracker, I'll trade you a drink for a story." She prompted, holding up her flask and giving it a gentle shake so he could hear the remaining precious liquid sloshing inside it. 

Daryl's narrow eyes sparked either with interest or anger, likely a mixture of both. But the spy knew she had him on the hook now. He might not be the sort to open up about himself, but his loneliness was nearly as palpable as her own and it only took him a few more seconds to cave, clearing his throat to speak as though he hardly ever used it. But then again, that was probably the case.

 

Natasha hid her smirk at how greedily the man was gulping down her vodka, but if his barriers were lowered that was only to her benefit. There was enough left to get him comfortably drunk but not incoherent, so she when it was her turn for a drink she merely wetted her lips with the liquid, feigning taking a full mouthful for his benefit.

The redhead handed back her flask to him and he took yet another generous mouthful, clearing his throat against the liquor's burn and she nudged at the fire a bit before getting up and sitting on the other side of the fire between his laid out body and the little blaze. "For warmth." She explained idly, scooting closer to him but not quite touching any part of him. He watched her intently but didn't move, tipping the flask back again and draining it. Drinking the strong liquid on a mostly empty stomach hit him quick, the simple fact that he wasn't barking at her to keep her distance was a testament to that and Natasha was pleased that her approach was going smoothly.

"Hmm... What story do I have to tell that wouldn't bore you into an early grave..." Natasha mused, keeping her voice low and dusky so he had to listen to close to catch what she was saying. She looked him up and down, drawing her full lower lip between her teeth and internally smirking at the way his sharp narrow eyes immediately darted to her mouth and lingered there as she worried her lip.

"Once upon a time..." Natasha began, leaning closer over him and gently taking her now empty flash from his loose grip, letting her fingertips brush over his own weathered hand far more than necessary, "There was a beautiful owl. She was cold and silent, taking her prey without warning, little more than a whisper and a shadow in the night." She spoke softly, moving closer and closer at such a slow pace that the hunter didn't perceive it, he was mesmerized by by her voice and the alcohol was doing it's job because he didn't even flinch when she settled her slight weight on his chest, though he didn't move to touch her like she was half-expecting him to. At least he didn't seem to be he was the kind of man who felt entitled to her from the get go.

"Then one night while she was hunting for food, she came across a stern, dark raven. The raven was hunting, but not to kill like she was. The owl asked the Raven what he was searching for, and he answered that he was tracking the moon." Natasha whispered, her face mere inches from Daryl's now and she let her eyes track up to the heavens, staring up at the nearly full moon above them. She glanced back down and saw her companion staring up at the moon as well, and a shaky little sigh escaped his lips. She could see the unmasked pain in his eyes and she knew that whatever or whoever it was he was really searching for was reflected in that moon now, just as she meant to happen.

Natasha brought him back to earth with a gentle touch, tracing her fingernail along his scruffy jaw and down his throat, her blue eyes darting between his when he met her gaze again. "We'll find them. I promise." Natasha swore, using her every last skill as a master manipulator to make him believe that he could trust her. This was all part of the job, the game she played and her best chance of finding Clint was to have this man on her side. Daryl nodded ever so slightly, his hooded eyes glassy and dark and she closed the last of the distance between them, pressing her soft full lips to his.

Her companion tensed momentarily at the initial contact but then relaxed, responding to her kiss though he still made no move to touch her. Natasha let her eyes flicker closed and she deepened the kiss, humming at the raw response he offered, making her heart beat faster in spite of herself. She trailed her fingertip down to the first button on his tattered shirt, splaying her hand over his muscled chest and sweeping down his front, leaning harder into him and changing the angle of her head so she could sweep her tongue into his mouth as she touched him.

Daryl growled and finally his hand ran up her back to tangle in her fiery locks, he gripped her and held her in place, surprising her with the hunger in his touch.

Daryl took drink after drink while they sat together, watching her with his sharp gaze but doing nothing to move away or push her back either. Perhaps it was the alcohol taking affect or maybe he just didn’t care anymore what people did to him. There wasn’t enough vodka to make him as drunk as he might have wanted to be, just enough that it eased the tension that always seemed to remain in his frame. He listened to her story, tossing back the last of the liquid in her flask and pushing it aside with a huff of breath.

She was inches from his face, lingering in his space but he barely managed to notice, his gaze flickering up to the sky when hers did and while it was dark the moon was bright and full and he knew if there was hope of anyone else being out there… At least they were looking at the same sky, the same moon just in different places. That was something that didn’t change no matter what.

He was pulled back from his thoughts when Natasha’s finger traced over his jaw and throat, looking back down at her as she promised they would find who they were hunting for. He sighed once more and blinked simply as he offered a single nod of understanding, hoping that she might actually be right, there was someone or something out there to even be looking for still. She closed the little distance between them, their lips pressing together and he tensed up out of instinct more so than defense this time. 

It wasn’t long before his body eased and he kissed her back, lying stiffly as he tested that boundary with her. She deepened their contact and he growled as her finger brushed his skin, flicked open the top button of his shirt and her hand found his bare chest, pushing the fabric aside to get to him skin to skin. He felt her touch in every corner of his body though it was light and simple he hadn’t realized how much he had craved anything from anyone, let alone a simple kiss. Or maybe he didn’t admit it to himself, not at first.

His hand swept up and he tangled his fingers into her hair, pinning her to him harshly and devouring her completely. Daryl was certain he hadn’t kissed anyone in years, not like that in maybe a decade or so but the deep burning desire he had to feel wanted was surfacing with his intoxication. Natasha’s hand slipped further down and out of his shirt, pushing the bottom hem up it up and he groaned as her palm lingered just near his front, slowly she unfastened each button and their angle changed again to welcome further contact.

He gripped at her hip with his free hand, his breathing catching as she broke their kiss to watch him when her hand snaked down over the growing bulge in his tattered jeans. His mouth hung open and he stared at her intently, making her shudder in response, lightly tugging her hair to force her back down to him so he could greedily taste her again. She palmed at his desire through the fabric and he moaned harshly into her mouth, the alcohol he consumed making him a little more gutsy than he might have been normally as he yanked up her top, exposing her upper half to him and they said nothing, seeming to want only the physically and as of right now he was pleased with this silence between them.

His lips wandered from hers to her neck, nipping at her flesh almost experimentally, pleased that the mist from the day earlier had rinsed away a decent amount of the dirt and grime from both of their bodies. It might not be the most romantic of things but he wasn’t looking for that anyhow. He bit at her more roughly, working his way over her collarbone and rotating their bodies, expecting to take control from there but she pushed at him to keep him lying there, every touch and move she made evoking a response from his body.

 

Natasha purred at the feeling of his teeth scraping over her sensitive skin, feeling his large powerful hands gripping her tight sent crackles of electricity up and down her spine. She hadn't expected to enjoy him like she was, but there was something raw and almost... Untainted about him that was surprisingly appealing, and he was quite handsome under that scowl of his to boot.

She could tell herself she was just getting off on the game, the power play, and that was at least partly true but if she was being totally honest with herself, the desperate loneliness she could see and feel in her companion was a mirror of her own. Her body craved his attention, his touch, more than she ever would admit to. Well, this was the easiest way to get her hooks into him, nothing wrong with enjoying herself a bit, right? It would simply make the show she was putting on more convincing.

Natasha felt him starting to shift her beneath him and she braced against it, testing his need for dominance and finding he easily relinquished it when met with resistance. That worked just fine for her, the redhead was well accustomed to taking charge and especially during a first encounter she wanted the control, wanted to set the pace. She rolled her petite form atop him, pushing his tattered shirt open and letting her winter blue gaze rake over his muscled torso. Natasha tugged her shirt the rest of the way off, goosebumps rising over her flesh as the tracker devoured her in turn, looking like a starving man before a plentiful meal. 

His hands twitched at her sides and she reached down to grip his wrists, drawing them up to sweep his hands over her curves and he palmed her full breasts, slipping his fingers inside her bra cups and fondling her soft flesh. Natasha leaned into his touch, mewling softly and rocking her hips down against his, grinding her center against the bulge straining in his jeans. Daryl's mouth fell open again and he thrust up to match her movements, panting harshly now and it occurred to Natasha that she could undo him any time, his pleasure was so raw and close to the surface. 

She smirked, flashing her straight white teeth and the redhead craned down to seal her lips to his once more, kissing him hard and deep and getting soaked with want at the muffled sounds of need he was making. Natasha leaned back and flipped her own worn jeans open, working them off her hips and smiling at the way her companion was fumbling with his own jeans in anticipation. She worked one leg out of her pants and put her hands over his, taking over the task of freeing him from his clothes fixing him with a sultry stare.

Her tracker's chest was heaving with shallow breath and he panted out a curse when she freed his long thick arousal from his boxers, giving him a few strokes from base to tip before settling atop his lap again. Natasha usually took a moment or two for a few teasing words, a little preamble but right now she wanted this as much as he did and she groaned brokenly as she guided his length inside her tight, slick core.

Daryl tensed beneath her and huffed out a curse as she sank down on him, she could hardly accommodate all of him and it felt beyond good to be stretched and filled up by him. She braced her hands on his chest and began sliding up and down his hard length, angling her hips so he'd hit her just right. Either it had been too long for her or she was just enjoying his sounds and expressions, her own pleasure was coiling rapidly deep in her belly and she locked her gaze with his as she sped her pace, ragged little moans escaping her every time she buried him to the hilt inside her. 

Daryl willingly allowed her to take control, somewhat taken aback by his strong need for this random woman or maybe that was why, because she was random just like he had been used to before all of this happened, one night stands with strange women. At least this one wasn’t forced on him and he actually knew her name. She moved to straddle him, his hands following her guidance once freed of her top and he fondled her through her bra, slipping his fingers beneath the fabric and tweaking her nipples between his fingers lightly as she started grinding down against him.

He groaned, thrusting up against her, desperately seeking more contact, something to satisfy his sudden desires. He watched her with hooded eyes as she tore open her jeans, working on his until she bat his hands away and took over instantly, pushing his clothing down just enough to get to him. She freed his throbbing length from his restrictive bottoms, gripping him and giving him a few solid pumps with her hands. “Fuck…” He panted, his chest rising and falling harshly with his heavy breathing, his eyes starting to slip closed until she shifted above him, feeling his erection prodding at her slick folds as she got settled.

Natasha guided him to her body, sinking down on him completely and he cursed under his breath again, forgetting what it felt like to have a woman’s body, to have only your lover on your mind making you forget everything else for the time being. Her hands braced on his broad chest, delicately rolling her hips in an expert motion, clearly knowing what she wanted and what she liked as she swiveled her hips just a little to find the perfect angle that made her gasp above him.

The tracker pushed up into her heat in time with her motions, his hands hovering at her calves until she reached and guided him by the wrists again to grab at her hips, forcing his grasp to get tight on her sides. His mouth hung open in the slightest, his head lolling back into the dirt as she grumbled a curse in a language he didn’t understand, catching him off guard when she very deliberately clenched tighter around him and drew almost all the way off him only to sink back down onto him completely, crying out lightly each time she steadied in his lap. Her eyes never left his, his hands tensing around her hips and forcing her motions to quicken with gentle coaxing, making her smirk as she cupped the side of his neck and guided him to sit forward.

He followed, her legs wrapping around his waist more and the change in angle allowed him to take her just the slightest bit deeper, slamming up into her heat in time with her own motions. His strong arm hooked around her small frame, crushing her to his chest, “Gonna… come. Ahh…” Daryl huffed with his lip brushing along her bare shoulder. She pulled back and nodded, her lips parting once more and she vowed she just needed a little more, pushing his hand to her abdomen and he wasn’t stupid. He took her cues and watched her blue eyes darkening further as his thumb circled over her clit between their bodies. Her back bowed and her nails dug into his flesh along his shoulder, nearly sending him over the edge deep inside her body and she clenched around him, fluttering against his length as she cried out her release.

Daryl gave her the moment she needed to ride out her pleasure atop him, grabbing her hip roughly and forcing her to sit up off of him suddenly and she must have had the same thought, her hand shot down to grab hold of him, still rocking her hips out of sheer eagerness for him still as she pumped his length covered in her slickness and pushed him over the edge. His seed spurted on her thighs and abdomen as well as his own, his pupils blown out and he couldn’t catch his breath for the time being, watching her intently as she came down from her own high and lingered in his lap.

 

Natasha came down from her high, unexpectedly satisfied and even more surprising she found her body was still hungry for more. She took a few steadying breaths, sighing deeply and grinning down at her companion who was obviously still reeling a bit from his own release. She mumbled a word of praise in Russian, he didn't understand her words but he seemed to pick up on the sentiment, grinning crookedly and grabbing an old handkerchief from his back pocket. He offered the cloth and she swiped her skin clean, he took the wadded material and wiped himself off as well, tossing the scrap into the small fire to her slight amusement.

The redhead tugged her shirt and bottoms back on fully, settling on her side on the ground rolling up her jacket for her head. She lay between him and the fire, not touching him but still near enough to share a fair bit of warmth with the larger man. They said nothing, simply lying in the quiet processing what they had just done and in Natasha's mind it couldn't have gone better. If she could keep him invested in getting more of the same from her, later when their backs were against the wall he'd be on her side. All men were the same that way, she'd come to learn over the years.

After several long moments of silence, the tracker's gruff voice slurred by a combination of the alcohol and drowsiness broke the quiet. He asked her unceremoniously what her boyfriend would have to say about them fucking when they found him, and Natasha couldn't help but grin picturing Clint's face if he found out she'd slept with this rough-edged man, especially within hours of meeting him.

"He's not my boyfriend. Clint is... My partner. He's the closest thing I have to a best friend I suppose. But we don't fuck." Natasha responded, rolling her eyes at the man's less than elegant manner of speaking, but she was still grinning as she let her eyes fall shut to catch some sleep. Daryl scoffed, asking what kind of a name 'Clint' was and she chuckled softly, not responding to him anymore for the night.

Dawn broke and Natasha woke at the tiniest rustle of leaves, glancing down the rise and she could see a lone walker milling a few yards away, still beyond the range of Daryl's trip wire. She slipped one of her tiny knives from her boot, rising up to her knees and flinging it with deadly accuracy. It sank into the creature's rotted skull with an audible thunk, and she smirked with satisfaction watching it crumple to the dirt.

She felt her companion's eyes on her back and she twisted her waist, stretching the stiffness from her muscles and smiled slightly at him in greeting. "Good morning, Tracker. Sleep well?" She asked, her delicate scarlet brows rising quizzically at the way he suddenly averted his gaze from her, mumbling an unintelligible answer as he scrambled up and trudged off to relieve himself. She shook her head, smiling to herself as she started squaring away their supplies. Was he actually embarrassed about what they'd done the night before? It was almost cute, but mostly just amusing. All she could figure was that while it had been a long time for her, it had been far longer for him and now he was feeling ashamed. There was no reason for him to in her mind, they were both consenting adults and it was the end of the world for god's sake, you had to take your comforts where you could get them. If he didn't shake off his fluster soon she'd have to make him let go of it. Not just because she found it silly but because it was life or death out here in an instant, and she had to know he was watching her back, not busy averting his gaze because he was imagining her riding him in the moonlight like some stricken whelp. 

Daryl wandered back and he wasn’t all that surprised to find Natasha packing up her things and putting out the remainder of the fire. “Lemme see that map of yours.” He requested, not looking at her directly as he indicated towards the zipper pouch he knew it was hidden in. He had it memorized mostly but maybe he just didn’t know what to say to her. She obliged and pulled it out, handing it over to him so he could take another glance, taking in the trails and ensuring he had the location down pat. He didn’t want to take detours if they didn’t have to. 

“Tracks ain’t run straight to the city. Follow ‘em for ‘bout another mile an’ a half then keep north. Sun’ll keep us on track.” He muttered in explanation to her, tossing the map back and she caught it to put it away, offering the left overs of their meal last night. “’M good. That’s your share.” He insisted, cutting down the wires and packing them and the pans up to take with them once more, grabbing his back and jacket as well as his crossbow that was still propped against the same tree.

He felt her brush right past him deliberately making sure their frames touched and he tensed at the feeling, taking a second to recover before following after her. They walked back out to the railroad tracks and he plucked up a large stick to walk with, dragging it in the dirt simply for something to do. “Said he’s your partner.” Daryl muttered, breaking their usual silence. “What’s that mean? He like you then? Paramilitary whatever?” She nodded but claimed he wasn’t like her, he was a good man and the reason she wasn’t quite as ‘crazy’ as she used to be.

His brow furrowed, looking at her with a bit of confusion as to what she meant by that and she told him not to concern himself with figuring her out. “Ain’t tryin’. Y’all didn’t seem t’ have a hard time askin’ me twenty questions.” The tracker grumbled, watching her take off and he figured there was more to it she might not like to discuss, letting it go for now and instead focusing on the near perfect line he was tracing in the dirt while they followed the tracks. He took one foot in front of the other, balancing on one single side of the train track until it grew into a curve and he knew it was time to get off. “This is our stop, Red.”

Natasha already veered off, keeping quiet and his eyes tracked over her curvy frame from behind, saying nothing and simply admiring the view while he had it. He was never one for talking but something about her being nearly the same way made him have things to ask, itching to question. They walked another few miles taking a break here or there until it grew to dusk and they needed to build another fire and take to eating a meal of some sort. They found another location that was far more opened than Daryl would have liked but the trees were lined enough that he could hang up his wired contraption.

While setting up just like they had the night before he avoided Natasha almost entirely, coming back from his usual walk of the perimeter only this time without a squirrel to spare. She was hunched starting to build a fire with her ass in the air and he was almost certain she was doing it on purpose. His eyes trained on her rear and she scolded him teasingly not long after, clearly having the senses that he was standing there already. She was struggling with getting the fire going and he mentioned for her not to worry about it, “It’s warm enough tonight. Ain’t gonna rain or nothin’.” He muttered, side stepping around her when she straightened up and he could feel her watching him again just like before. She questioned if he wanted to be comfortable like last night and he stiffened not sure if she meant the fire, the alcohol, or their activities. He opted for an answer that might address all of them, “Nope.” He stated flatly, digging through his bag with her gaze locked on him and finding a can of something or other to eat from.

 

Natasha relented to his verdict and gave up on her fire, clicking her small flashlight on in the quickly falling darkness to rummage through the pack for her own can of food, the first one she picked up was a can of white beans and she shrugged. At least it was filling and she could eat them without heating them up just as well. Her Tracker was sitting cross-legged in the long grass eating his own can of lentils and but he didn't seem to mind the less than appetizing fare.

The redhead watched her companion coyly as she ate, noting with some amusement that he was trying his best to watch her without appearing to be looking at her. He hadn't shaken his awkwardness with her all day, and by the time she was done eating Natasha decided it was time to break him of it once and for all.

The spy finished up her food and set the can down, sucking off her fingers in a languid, over-exaggerated manner and noting with veiled amusement that her companion's sharp narrow gaze was glued to her mouth and the things she was doing to her fingers in the ever dimming light. But the instant she let her hand fall from her lips and her gaze met his, he looked away with a visible jolt and Natasha took that as her cue to finally put his boyish nervousness to rest.

Natasha sighed and brushed her hands off on her pants, rising up from the ground and sitting down right at Daryl's side, close enough that she brushed against him. He was far more skittish without the alcohol in his system and he immediately tried to get up and out of her space but she put a hand on his thigh, overtly close to the bulge that had already formed in his jeans from her little show with her mouth and fingers earlier and he froze, every muscle tense and his gaze wary but hungry.

"Stay." She commanded in a dulcet tone, gently rubbing his hard muscled thigh and smiling openly now at his fluster. "Answer me this, Tracker: Did you enjoy yourself last night? Did you for one moment at least, feel good? Feel alive?" Natasha asked in a hushed voice, leaning in slowly towards him, keeping him pinned with her bottomless gaze.

Daryl tried his best to move away from her to get up and out of her space even though technically speaking she had come into his not the other way around. Her hand shot down and took to his thigh instantly, far higher up than he would admit to having wanted. He swallowed down the bit of his food he had popped into his mouth and barely managed to even look over at her.

He stayed at her request but didn’t say a single thing at first, far too focused on her fingers kneading his muscled limb just near the bulge forming in his jeans. He kept to gripping his can of food, pretending not to hear her words for now but she made a point of repeating them, her hand traveling until he shifted to keep her from going where he figured she might be. Her insistence made it difficult for him to ignore and the constriction in his pants wasn’t helping much with that factor either.

Natasha’s plump lips drew near the edge of his jaw, just past his mouth and she stared him down, repeating her questioning in an even gentler tone. “Don’t think I complained did I?” He returned curtly making her smile, seeming satisfied by her breaking through to him. She asked if he felt alive, “Sometimes I ain’t even sure I know what that feels like, Red.” The tracker muttered, groaning lightly as she let her fingers dance up higher and brush lightly along his arousal.

She kissed him slowly, pecking his lips and letting it build, waiting for that same response he gave to her last night but he couldn’t find that drive or rather that comfort to give him the extra push to give into her like he had before. Not to say he wasn’t wanting and hungering for her. His hand shot up and gripped her wrist, fighting her pushing him onto his back and keeping her most importantly from rubbing him through his clothing like she was. “You don’t owe me nothin’, Lucy.” He grumbled out in little above a ragged whisper.

The redhead gave a tiny smile and shook her head saying that she didn’t believe in debts like she used to and nor did she do any favors. She pried his fingers off her wrist and he could see in her gaze the insistence that she needed it just as much as he did whether she would admit it or not. She hesitated in the slightest at asking if he wanted her and he nodded, “Yeah.” The man answered simply, his eyes darkened with his desires, following her forward until their lips met again and this time he responded in kind.

 

"Do you want me or not?" She almost dared him with her eyes when she asked, pushing a little harder because his skittishness had given her the tiniest seed of doubt that her hold on him wasn't taking as well as she first thought. It surprised her to realize that more than simple manipulation she was simply craving his touch, wanted more than anything to pass a little time not feeling so alone now that she'd had a taste of a connection with another person again after so long.

Daryl's gruff response served to scatter her nagging doubts in the wind and she surged forward to seal her lips to his, kissing him hungrily and shivering in anticipation as he finally returned her passion in kind. 

Natasha carded her nails through the hunter's long dark hair, gripping on to his broad shoulders and climbing into his lap as they kissed ravenously. Daryl's hands slid up and down her sides, toying at the hem of her shirt but again it seemed he was far more hesitant to proceed with out a dose of liquid courage in him.

The redhead broke contact with him and locked her eyes with his, "Take it off." She demanded in a lust-darkened voice, scooting forward in his lap to cant her hips to his. She began grinding down against the straining bulge in his jeans as he followed her prompting, tugging her top up and off her petite frame and she couldn't help but grin when he held the warm fabric to his face and breathed her scent in deeply.

Natasha cupped the sides of his face and drew him closer, letting him drink her in like he wanted and she shuddered with want at the way he nuzzled into her neck tasting and nipping her skin as his callused hands fondled her full breasts. He tweaked at her rosy peaks and she mewled softly, bearing down on his arousal harder working them both up to a fever pitch.

"I kept catching your eyes on my ass today, Tracker. Care for a better view?" Natasha teased as she slipped her hands down between them to unfasten his pants. Daryl growled in response and she smirked, kneeling between his stretched out legs and turning away from him to shimmy her jeans down to her knees. She glanced at him playfully over her shoulder, arching a scarlet brow and beckoning him to her with a little toss of her head.

The hunter shifted up onto his knees as well, freeing his length from his boxers and coming to press his front flush against her back, his thick arousal prodding at her toned rear and his large hands roaming over her hips and flat abdomen. Natasha hummed with want, grinding back against him and gripping one of his hands, drawing it down to her slick center. "Touch me..." She directed, tipping her head to one side so he could nibble at her neck.

Her companion eagerly responded to her fevered instruction, his rough fingertips lightly brushing over her mound at first, gaining confidence when she gasped and guided his motions in little circles over her clit how she liked. He picked up on what she wanted quickly, increasing his pace his fingers getting slick with her nectar. Daryl gripped her hip with his other hand, his rhythm breaking momentarily as he guided himself inside her from behind, groaning roughly as her heat enveloped him.

Natasha widened her stance a bit to give him easier access, meeting his thrusts in perfect sync and shaking at the delicious sensation of him filling her up once more. She drew one hand up behind her head to thread her fingers into his hair, gripping him hard and riding him harder, encouraging him to let go and take her as hard as he pleased.

Daryl followed her forward, admiring her rear as he freed his erection from his bottoms and got to his knees to come up behind her. He pressed up against her backside, throbbing with his need to have her again, brushing against her bare skin alone was enough for further rile him up. His hands roved over her slender frame that fit so well with his own for one reason or another, tracing the lines of her sides as she ground back against him deliberately trying to get him to cave.

He groaned at her demand, following the guidance of her hand and slipping his own down her front to caress her wet center, biting lightly at her neck as he swirled his fingers over her clit. He was light at first, slow and steady as he learned what she liked and didn’t like, listening to every single breath whether she knew it or not and pocketing away each location that evoked a response for later, wanting more than he thought to memorize something so simple. He picked up his speed a little more when she responded each touch, dipping lower to experiment and she arched her back into him.

His hand slowed on her clit once more, withdrawing only for a moment to be replaced by his length. Pushing into her heat with a rough gasp of breath, making her shake in his grasp. The tracker almost thought he hurt her, pausing briefly but when she rocked back against him he got all the confirmation he needed that she wasn’t displeased at all. He pushed into her further, thrusting up into her body with his lips trailing along her neck and shoulder, his one hand gripping her hip and the other lingering near her core.

Natasha drew her hand back and hooked it around his neck, tangling her fingers into his hair and tugging enough to make him growl at her. He slammed up into her, making their bodies jolt and slap together, one hand forcing her to pin against his front with his fingertips lightly gliding over her clit for added sensation. She gasped and his free hand cupped her breast, his tongue lips and teeth all working over her neck along one side beneath her ear, making her mutter his name and he found he liked the sound.

She arched back and rode him in time with his motions, each thrust making her gasp as he took her deep from this angle and her head craned back to look at him. Their eyes met and he sealed their lips together over her delicate shoulder, his tongue slipping into her mouth and devouring her every mewl while his hands and length worked her over until she was a shuddering mess. It might have been a long time for him but he still was smart enough to know the difference between sounds of pain and sounds of sheer pleasure and right now all that came from her was the latter.

“Need yah t’ come.” Daryl half pleaded, barely hanging onto his last tiny thread that kept his desire in check. He wanted to feel her come on him again just like last night he remember so well, wanted to have the pleasure and the task of cleaning himself up of her sweet nectar along his length. She bit her lip and groaned, arching back and making him hit her in just the right spot that made her lose complete control. His grip on her chest tightened, kneading her flesh and biting down on her shoulder to keep from following her over so suddenly. She rode out her high and pulled off of him when he pulled back. His hand darted down between their bodies and he watched her expression for a moment before eyeing her ass, his hand dragging over to squeeze her rear almost without even thinking and he grabbed hold of his length, finishing himself off with a few solid pumps, coming against her backside and watching her juices seep from her own body as well as his tracing down her firm rear.

His hands let up and he hooked an arm around her waist, yanking her back to him and kissing her beneath the ear in a silent appreciative gesture. He reached down and rifled in his pocket for another larger scrap of fabric in his back pocket, balling it up and wiping her ass down with his opposite hand hooked around her abdomen, forcing her into letting him do this, his breathing still ragged as well as her own as they came down from their highs. The tracker wiped off his length once satisfied with her being cleaned, folding the scrap in half and tossing it aside by his things with a little shrug as he let her free of his grasp.

The redhead nearly fell forward, still shaky and he reached out, “You alright there Lucy?” He prompted, tugging up his pants and leaving his shirt opened as he steadied her upright and she pulled back on her own clothes, taking a breather while she dressed in her top. He grabbed a cantina and it was mostly empty besides maybe an inch or two of water, offering it to her and she seemed apprehensive. “Ain’t good to work up a sweat ‘round here. Drink up. Your map says there’s a pasture ‘bout a quarter mile from ‘ere. Probably a well closed off an’ we can cook it up, make it sterile. Or there’s a creek but that’s outta our way.” He told her like she might care, maybe she did maybe she didn’t.

Daryl slumped back to his things, lying out one of his saddle bags for beneath his head and tugging the poncho he wore sometimes out to lay it beside him. She must have understood despite his closed off posture that the gesture indicated he wasn’t opposed to her lying beside him like she had last night. She smiled in the steadying darkness, hauling her flashlight over with her and taking to the spot right next to the man who was resting with his arms folded beneath his head in a relaxed state. “Night, Lucy.” He mumbled, rolling to his side and hearing her return the statement and do just the same, giving him her back but he could feel her warmth with how close she way lying next to him, smiling to himself slightly because this was all so new to him.

Natasha smirked as she got settled in to sleep alongside Daryl, feeling at least a bit more secure knowing there was someone at her back despite being out in the open like this. It made her think of the many nights she and her partner had spent like this, just she and him against the entire world. She still didn't trust the dark tracker like she did Clint of course, but at least she could rest easy knowing his obvious attraction to her would more than likely keep him from burying a knife in her back in her sleep. That was more than she could say for many of her companions over the years.

Natasha woke just before dawn, sitting up and shivering a bit at the fine layer of dew that clung to her. She had dealt far worse cold than this, but her throat was parched and she knew if she didn't get more than a mouthful of water today it would start to effect her capabilities. Daryl was stirring beside her as well and she watched with a crooked little smirk as he rolled and swiped his long hair from his eyes. Their gazes met and she was curious to see if he had managed to overcome his awkwardness over their nightly activities yet.

"Good morning." She greeted, leaning forward not necessarily to touch him but just to see if he would shrink back or not. He didn't, and that pleased her though he still seemed a bit wary of treating her in a more familiar manner. They quickly squared away their makeshift camp, Natasha split the second to last meal bar she had with him and they ate as they walked, not speaking but not needing the idle conversation anyway.

It wasn't like traveling with Clint. The archer wasn't an overly talkative man but he did make it his goal to keep up as much banter with her as possible since he knew that she was liable never to speak unless it was required of her for something official. She could trade verbal barbs with the archer and hold her own, could play the most cheerful social butterfly on earth when needed, but when it came to her own time Natasha preferred the quiet. She liked that this man beside her seemed to as well.

They stopped only a couple times, till finally coming across the pasture on her map mid-afternoon and the redhead was more than pleased that Daryl's assumption about a well being present was correct. They filled up every container they had with water and wandered back to the treeline for better cover to build a fire to boil it. At least there was some purpose to the couple pots the tracker insisted on carrying with him for his trip wires.

It took all of Natasha's strict self-discipline not to drink any of the water before they got it boiled, distracting herself by roaming around among the trees awhile. She plucked a few of the younger greener ends of pine branches off as she went, bringing back a good handful with her to find Daryl still at work boiling water. She took the smaller pot he had filled with bubbling water and dropped a large handful of the pine needles in it to steep.

The tracker gave her a sideways look and she grinned as she sat down next to him. "Pine needle tea. It's good for you, has lots of vitamin C, A... You want to keep your teeth don't you? No fresh fruit stands close by I expect." She teased, letting the tea steep for a few moments and breathing in the crisp green scent of the steam. 

She scooped the needles out and poured the tea into two metal cups and handed him one, carefully sipping on hers since the water was still quite hot. Natasha purred at the blessed sensation of the liquid wetting her throat and while the sharp almost medicinal pine taste and smell was an acquired taste she rather liked it. 

Daryl accepted the drink from Natasha with a bit of apprehension, sniffing it and taking in the smell of the needles, wasn’t the most appealing things in his opinion but if according to her it would actually help him to nourish his worn body then he would give it a shot at least. He winced when he took a small sip, swallowing it down and giving her an odd look but she didn’t really seem to mind it much herself, giving a little shrug to indicate it didn’t bother her. “I’ll take water over your fancy shit next go.” He grumbled lightly.

He had to admit that after drinking down a bit of it and boiling up enough water for them to haul in their cantina’s he felt better as they left to get back on track. They walked for a good ten minutes or so and he veered off the path, his brow furrowing as his trained eye found it odd that the brush wouldn’t grow up between a thick line of trees. He nudged the redhead and tossed his head to the side showing her what he caught and she nodded seeming to understand what he was thinking. There could very well be a shed, a home, someone’s hunting camp from a long while ago they used before the world changed which meant the chance of supplies even if it was slim findings. Something was better than nothing.

They followed what seemed to be a foot path of sorts and he took the lead, clearing some of the low hanging branches for her to pass after him without quite as much trouble. The trail led off another ten minute walk or so but when they came through on the other side of the trees it was worth it. “Holy shit.” He muttered breaking the long reigned silence since their last pit stop. “Your fuckin’ tea better not be makin’ me hallucinate.”

Natasha came round to his side, brushing up against him and past the branch he was holding aside. A rather large one story farm house sat at the end of an extensive gravel driveway, acres of now yellowed grass surrounding the space and his mouth hung open slightly. He glanced at her and her’s did the same, gazing at the space, “Guess the well belonged t’ somebody.” He stated, absently thinking of Beth again and the Greene’s farm. She asked if he thought it might be occupied and he shook his head, “Naw, trail’s dead, over grown means’ there’s been no traffic in a while. If there’s anyone up there, they’re fuckin’ stupid for not findin’ the well.” He shrugged, tugging his crossbow off his back and taking off up the driveway.

They got to the door and it wasn’t even boarded up, propped open for anyone to enter which meant… quite literally anyone and anything. He put the flashlight he hauled with him between his lips and clicked it on, rising his bow up after readying a bolt to fire. He slapped his hand on the edge of the door frame to cause as much noise as he could, giving it a minute or two to see if he heard a response, not from a human but from a walker or more. Daryl waited and sure enough snarling began just around the corner, nodding to Natasha and when nothing came he figured it was stuck some place.

He stepped inside, heading to the kitchen while she took to the living room and back bedrooms, listening for the walker and when he made it to the dining room on the other side sure enough someone was dangling from the chandelier, reaching for him and growling hungrily at the sight and scent of fresh meat. “Through the head, dumbass.” He quipped, firing a bolt and hitting it straight through the head just as it nearly tore its own head off trying to get to him. He shook his head and drew his knife, cutting the walker down and letting it drop to the floor just beside the table, watching its form crumble. He yanked off the table cloth that sat covered in dust and tossed it over the body, just as Beth would have wanted.

She constantly reminded him that these ‘things’ were human once, that in the ‘real’ world someone would’ve taken care of the body, covered it up and showed respect. He guessed that she rubbed off on him a bit either that or… in a way he was honoring his old friend like this. He took off down the hall ways, checking each room in turn and finding no others, nearly crashing into Natasha when she came out of the master suite. “Got ‘im. Some young guy. Can’t imagine he lived alone so think he might’ve just been bunkin’ here or somethin’, decided to hang himself and end it.” He shrugged, “Burn the body later. You find anybody else?” He asked.

Natasha shook her head in response, holstering her gun once more. "No, all clear. Honestly I'm amazed, this place is practically untouched, secure with the proper counter measures. It's quite a find. Well done Tracker." She praised with a little smile, brushing past him to head back to the kitchen letting her body share far more contact with his than was necessary to get around him in the hallway.

The pair divided up tasks without even having to communicate verbally, Natasha busied herself with building a fire in the old style wood-burning stove and doing inventory of their supplies while Daryl ventured out and secured the perimeter. He returned about thirty minutes later and had yet another good find, he had managed to get them a rabbit for their dinner on his venture.

He handed her the animal with a tiny smirk, seemingly pleased with himself being able to offer her such a prize and she took it happily. "I saw a couple buckets and a barrel on the porch... Fill it up from the pump outside while I cook us dinner? I don't want to waste a chance like this to get really clean for a change." Natasha proposed, referencing the pump just outside that hopefully was still functioning connected to the well out in the pasture. Daryl readily agreed to her deal, dragging the body of the walker out when he left to perform his task of getting them a decent amount of water.

Natasha cleaned and dressed the rabbit, there was a small collection of old dried herbs and spices in the kitchen and blessedly some salt so by the time Daryl came back in and reported filling the barrel outside to the brim as well as holding a bucket full to start boiling on the stove, the house was filled up with the savory aroma of spiced cooking meat and the redhead was amazed by how much she had missed such a smell.

They slowly worked through a decent amount of the water, letting pots full of it boil while they ate and and storing some to return to room temperature to drink but the redhead left the largest pot full on the stove. They found several candles and Natasha busied herself lighting them around the small living space, maneuvering around Daryl who was standing a bit awkwardly between the couch and the stove, watching her and shifting his weight from one foot to the other as if internally debating what to do with himself.

She went back to the stove and grabbed the large metal wash bin she'd found as well as a pile of towels and washcloths she'd gotten from the linen closet while he was outside. She held up her own treasure she'd found, a bar of sage scented soap that was so old it was cracked all through it but still it would do far better than anything either of them had had access to for who knew how long.

The man's narrow eyes took on that same hungry look she'd come to recognize now as his gaze jumped from the soap in her hand to run up and down her body. Natasha smiled knowingly at him, shrugging her leather jacket off and Daryl cast his gaze down to the floor, his voice rough with want but hesitant when he told her he'd give her some privacy to clean up. The tall hunter started to turn to go but Natasha's hand darted out and she snatched his wrist, making his whole body go rigid with her light touch and soft voice.

"Stay." She told him, an echo of what she'd said to him before, and he seemed only too willing to comply this time, turning to face her once more but not making any other moves or saying a word. Natasha smirked and tossed her head at the couch, going to stand by her washtub again. "It's not like we've got cable. Enjoy the show Tracker. Such as it is." She chuckled, hooking her fingers under the hem of her shirt and waiting for him to plunk down on the couch before continuing.

He sat, looking up at her with that same hungry expression that made her heart beat faster though he was still a bit nervous, not quite sure what to do with his hands resting them on his knees for awhile, fidgeting with the fabric of the couch, pushing his hair out of his face. Natasha chuckled again and slowly pulled her travel-stained shirt up and off her head, shaking her hair out and letting her hands slowly glide down her sides to her jeans. Her fingers toyed with the fastening and she smiled happily at the way his gaze was riveted to her body as she pushed them off of her hips and down her shapely legs. The more clothing she removed the more he seemed to forget his nerves, he was holding perfectly still, watching her like a wolf did a plump spring doe.

Natasha stripped down for him and he watched with rapt attention, eyeing her frame and forgetting all about his nervousness he oddly felt around her. Maybe because he felt guilty about staring but knowing now that she wanted him to for one reason or another was a tad more comforting than he expected it to be, allowing his mind to ease and enjoy the show just like she instructed him to do. He licked his lips as her fingers traced the bottom of her bra, seeming to contemplate taking it off or not, offering him a teasing little smirk when her hands slipped around her back to unclasp the garment finally.

He got a more than generous view of her full chest, glowing from the candle light and much easier for him to view in the comfort and safety of their newest temporary homestead. She seemed to catch that he was watching her as intently as he was, her fingers trailing back up her abdomen to her chest, humming at her own hand that gently fondled her breasts. Her nipples were hard, making him want nothing more than to sample her sweet flesh because he could more easily here. She bent and started on her upper body, dipping one of the cloths in the water to wet it and wringing it out along her curvaceous figure.

The water droplets slipped down her pale skin, tormenting him as he followed every path that he could with his eyes. She hunched again for the soap, taking it and wetting it down a bit, dragging it along her body and starting its lather against her arms, her collarbone, her chest and already he could smell the faint scent of the bar she used, beckoning him further. Daryl’s fingers flexed, tightening around his legs just above his knees while he watched her traveling south and pause to contemplate her panties along her slender hips. Her thumbs hooked into the fabric, watching his reaction carefully to see if that was what he wanted and he did… She pushed them down, stepping out of them and tossing the balled up fabric aside just near the front of the chair he was sitting in.

The redhead washed a good bit of herself up and used the cloth she had before to rinse off as best that she could, her hair slightly damp after she wrung it out in the basin. He expected her to pull her clothes back on, tell him that was all the show he got to see without added fees or something along those lines but instead she sauntered over to him, deliberately swaying her hips with each step and leaving a trail of water as she handed him the bar of soap but rather than pulling away she took his fingers. “Ain’t much of a show on my end, Lucy.” He mumbled, shaking his head but she did the same, glancing pointedly to his arousal forming in his jeans and he knew full well she wasn’t through with him.

She mentioned she needed someone to do her back but they would come back to him soon enough. Her scarlet brow arched up, waiting for him to fully stand and follow after her, holding his hand while his other gripped the soap she meant for him to use. The closer they got to the basin again the easier it was for him to see in the light of the candles around her, the marks on her body, faint ones along her legs and here and there on her lower back, a broader one along her right shoulder. She seemed… so comfortable with her body, every inch of it, unashamed of her marks but he knew the work she did, most of those probably came from jobs. Thinking that a good story to trade should anyone see his own, claim they were from work, leave them wondering just what he used to do before all of this. Natasha knew though, probably could tell the difference, she was smart, way smarter than he ever could be.

She smiled at him over her shoulder, giving him her back and deliberately putting his hand she had been holding on her side, close to her breast. Daryl’s breathing picked up once more almost instantly, the thoughts he was having about her returning in seconds flat and he forgot all about his own wounds, finding himself wanting to fix hers if he could. It was always easier, helping with someone else’s baggage rather than tending to your own. He drew his hand up and started working the soap along her lower back and down to the top of her rear, hearing her groan at his touch while he traced up higher over her back and shoulders to aide in her clean up.

Fully hard for her by the time she handed over the wash cloth for him to rinse her off with, his blue eyes steadying to nearly all black from his desires. The tracker found himself focusing on one of her marks, bending before his mind could play catch up and tell him this was a woman he only just met, that he had no right to kiss like this. His mouth seal over the larger scar on her shoulder, she must have known, her body going still completely but her breathing picking up just as his own had. His free hand slipped around her waist, running over her abdomen and with his mindset tonight, the relaxing location he could focus on the way she felt, including the changes in her skin.

His thick digits managed on another mark at her hip, then another beneath her breast but it was far thinner, his kisses on her shoulder trailing up and over to her neck and morphing into bites. He felt anger towards whoever or whatever it was that hurt her, even if it was in battle or at work that didn’t mean she deserved them. In his eyes it made her even more gorgeous, more mysterious to him and he sort of liked that for now. He dropped hold of the cloth and pushed at her hip to encourage her to turn around and she did, letting him see her front, silently watching him devour her and truly take in every inch of her.

Daryl’s darkened eyes flickered to the scars he had felt, getting a look at them each in turn and running his digits along the marks, memorizing them for whatever reason he didn’t understand right now. “From the job?” He finally asked, breaking the silence that had turned into only ragged breathing. She stood there while he took her hand and pulled it closer to examine it, finding more pale marks along her flesh most of them faded to nearly nothing but that didn’t stop him from kissing each one. His lips dragged along her wrist to one on her forearm, biting at it this time and making her groan, her full chest heaving and with the way that she stood, her legs spread apart just enough that if he wanted he could reach out and touch every part of her, indicating to him she was wanting just the same.

He wanted to… but he held off, staring at her intently when she started to reach for his shirt, unbuttoning the two bottom buttons that were left fastened until now. She gripped either side of the garment tight, pulling him forward to her almost pleading silently with him to do something more than what he was already. The hunter pushed forward and close the gap between them, reaching up over her arms and taking hold of either side of her face, kissing the very edge of her lips and working his way over, kissing her languidly, evoking a desperate little mewl from her when their frames pressed together closer.

 

Daryl asked her in a rough tone if her various marks he was closely inspecting came from her work, but with his proximity and the hungry way he was looking at her she could hardly form a coherent response. "Mostly." She breathed, groaning softly when he sampled her flesh again and it struck her that even his simple biting kiss on a scar along her forearm felt far more intimate than any attention she'd received from another man in the more secretive places on her body.

Natasha thought going in to this activity that she could be patient, that above all this was gaining her an advantage over this man rather than simply giving her pleasure but when she drew him close and he started kissing her, the more logical portion of her brain took a back seat to her simple need to have him. This wasn't like the times before, quick and dirty out in the woods, leaving enough clothing on to be ready to fight at a moments notice and while those encounters had been pleasurable this was a completely different experience.

While neither of them were naive enough to consider themselves 'safe' here, they felt enough security to relax considerably: Cook a meal with a real fire, get completely undressed, get cleaned up thoroughly. It was a luxury the spy nor the tracker had enjoyed in far too long and Natasha refused to waste a second of it.

They broke apart to share a ragged breath but Daryl didn't release his hold on her, keeping her close and staring into her eyes as she clung to him in turn. "The scars I bear run deeper than the flesh. But I can't run from them any more than I can run from my past, so I don't let them define me. My choices and actions define who I am, not my past." Natasha murmured, not even sure why she was telling him that except that he seemed to hold a certain reverence for her marks with the special attention he'd given them.

Daryl's narrow eyes widened for an instant at her words, and while she wasn't sure why she knew she had struck a very deep chord. He pulled her in and kissed her again, feather soft and almost pleading. Natasha slipped her hands up his chest to grip his neck, leaning up into his contact to deepen the kiss till they were both breathless once more. He let her go when they broke apart again and the redhead took up the soap and wet her cloth again, getting a bit of a lather going with a small smile gracing her full lips.

The deadly spy washed her companion's face and neck with all the tenderness and attention of a woman who didn't deal in death every day of her life. He followed her prompting to discard his tattered shirt but he seemed tense again, she assumed that like her he wasn't accustomed to being fully exposed anymore but she had far more practice masking her unease. Natasha wetted her cloth in the hot soapy water again, rubbing down his muscled chest and feeling her own need building the more she touched him.

He had a fair share of nicks and scars himself, but anyone who had to live off the land to survive would accumulate such mementos. She did find the small flowing script etched over his heart interesting though, and when she ran her fingertips lightly over the name Daryl shivered ever so slightly.

"Norman?" She asked, her eyes flickering back up to his face and the tracker smiled crookedly despite the sadness that crept into his eyes. He explained that the tattoo was in honor of a man he'd served with in Afghanistan who had been more of a brother to him in the few years he knew they guy than his blood brother had been his whole life. He told her his friend had taken a bullet for him that would've pierced his heart, and he just felt like he should do something to honor that sacrifice.

Natasha nodded solemnly and bent her head to kiss the inked letters, breathing out a short Russian prayer for the deceased against his skin. Daryl drew her chin back up with his finger and kissed her again, grunting into her mouth a bit when her free hand skidded down his front and her fingertips hooked into the waist of his pants. She tugged him a step forward and reached back to set her cloth and soap down so she could unfasten his pants, her breathing speeding again as he watched her raptly.

Natasha shrugged his well worn pants and boxers down to his ankles and he kicked them away, standing bare and hard and panting before her and she couldn't help but bite her lip appreciatively at his form. She dipped her cloth again and smirked at Daryl's audible intake of breath when she slowly knelt before him, and the sounds he made as she washed his abs, thighs and erect length made her heart pound and her center ache with need for him. 

She rinsed the soap away and looked up at him with a sultry grin, he was standing rigidly with his hands clenched at his sides and Natasha knew how badly he wanted her to put her mouth on him but he seemed unwilling or unable to voice it. The redhead set her soap down and leaned up to bite at his defined hip bone, making him flinch but she held him in place digging her nails into his thighs. 

Her mouth wandered over to the base of his shaft and she nuzzled at his dark happy trail, feeling the muscles of his abdomen jump at the contact and hearing his rough panting get rougher. Natasha took him in her hand and licked a broad stripe along him from base to tip, sealing her warm wet mouth around him and slowly swallowing him down. He was thick and long but the redhead was... Experienced, as it were, so she took him all in and purred around his shaft, getting wetter herself hearing his harsh exclamations of pleasure as she began bobbing up and down the length of him. She watched his face contorting with pleasure as she worked him, wanting nothing more in that moment to make him lose control for the sheer pleasure of doing so.

Daryl grunted at the feeling of her cleaning up his lower half, her hands along his body working him up further. She knelt and lathered his thighs and abdomen and… his breathing picked up as she rinsed away the soapy water on his frame. His fingers curled at his sides, his eyes hooded, watching her set aside the rag and soap and offer him a smirk before biting at his hip. Soon enough she took him in her hand, licking up the base of his shaft before closing her full lips around him and he had never felt anything like this before, a woman’s mouth on him, focusing on him and his pleasure in such a manner.

He groaned, eyeing her as she bobbed along his erect length, taking all of him in her mouth easily, never faltering or flinching away from him. Her pace increased and his hand reached down to cup the side of her head, tangling his fingers into her red waves, drawing her up and down his shaft and focusing on the feeling she was evoking from him. His lips parted and he jolted forward as her nails bit into his thighs again, pulling off of him and letting her lips linger lightly against his tip, fondling his sack with one hand as she requested he come for her, promising she wanted it.

He nodded, gripping the edge of the table near them to keep from tumbling, his toes curling and he gasped as she worked him over once again, sucking him harder and it wasn’t long before he followed her orders, coming against the back of her throat. Natasha hardly reacted to it, delicately pulling off of him, a bit of his seed slipping past her lips as she swallowed but she quickly cleared it with a flick of her tongue. “C’mere.” He encouraged, his chest still heaving with his heavy breathing, tugging at her face to get her back to her feet.

She smiled at him, her bright blue eyes darkened with her own need as she gripped his wrists and used him to help hoist her back up to her feet completely. The tracker reached out and wrapped his fingers lightly along the side of her throat, tugging her to him and meeting her lips in a kiss, biting and tugging at her lower lip, earning little groans from her and feeling her body shudder against his own. She pushed him suddenly and he followed her guidance, backing up and lifting her into his arms in the same instant, her legs wrapping around his hips on instinct. He walked back until his calves hit the sofa and she shoved him to sit down and he growled at the push on his shoulders. Natasha straddled him and he could feel how wet she was above him as she instinctively started grinding down against him to spur him on once more.

His mouth trailed from hers and down her neck to her shoulder again, kissing and biting at her marked flesh, lining open mouth kisses to her bare breasts and taking one peak between his teeth. Natasha gasped and again she took his wrist like she had before, pushing his hand around her front to her abdomen and further south to caress her mound and offer her a bit of release. Daryl shifted beneath her and she rose her hips enough to give him space to stroke her wet center, dipping his fingers into her body and stroking her walls, alternating between that and swirling circles over her button of nerves at the top of her entrance.

Natasha knelt over Daryl's lap on the couch, the crackling fire in the stove backlighting her lovely body as she undulated and mewled in response to her Tracker's touch. He delved his calloused digits deep inside her, hitting her most sensitive spots and drawing her slickness up to swirl rapidly around her swollen clit. It had been so long since the redhead had had enough breathing room to actually slow down and enjoy partaking in another and having them reciprocate, even longer still since she'd actually come across someone she felt inclined to do so with if given the chance. 

The spy could feel her pleasure rising and she gripped fast onto his shoulders, her mouth hanging open as he wrung moan after breathy moan from her with his ministrations. Daryl's eyes were piercing and dark with desire, his body recovering from his own release but for now all his focus was on her and her reactions to his touch. Natasha's hands flexed and her nails pressed crescent moons into his skin as she rode his hand harder, her eyes slipping shut and her voice rising an octave as she was overtaken by her pleasure.

"Oh... Oh God right there, don't stop... Ah!" Natasha cried, her whole body shuddering as her orgasm washed over her in rolling waves of sensation. Daryl didn't let up, carrying through another peak and then another till she was gasping desperately for breath and pitching forward against his chest no longer able to hold herself upright. He slid his soaked hand up from between her legs and held her close, chuckling hoarsely but groaning a bit himself when her center slippery from her repeated pleasure slid along his once more hardened shaft.

"Take me to that bed Tracker. I'm going to repay you for that." Natasha huffed playfully against his ear, her body boneless in his arms and all she could do was laugh and cling to him as he complied with a surprising amount of eagerness. He toted her petite form back down the hallway to the farmhouse's single bedroom and she threaded her fingers into his long dark hair, nipping and kissing at his neck and jaw making him growl with want. 

He laid her down on the bed and the blankets and pillows gave up little puffs of sweet musty dust, but it was still the most comfortable place she'd laid her head in what felt like forever. Natasha sighed heavily as Daryl pressed his weight down onto her, seemingly over his nerves from earlier. The hunter dipped his head down and kissed a trail down her throat to her full chest, his hand slipping down her side to her more prominent bullet wound scar and brushing his thumb over it as he settled himself above her. Natasha's blue eyes still dark from want tracked over him but in the dark away from the light of the stove she could barely make out a single feature, all her other senses awash with him, his wild scent, his heat and solid presence, the sound of his ragged breathing.

It was almost too much for her to handle, Natasha couldn't recall ever being so immersed in another person and it made her heart pound so hard she feared he would hear it in the quiet. Her eyes pricked with tears as he touched her with such care, kissed every inch of her he could reach as if he were worshiping her form. He finally tipped his head up and their gazes locked, Natasha bit her lower lip and threaded her fingers into his dark hair. "Please." She murmured the single word, but it meant so much more, more than even she could articulate. She didn't just want to tighten the leash she had on him, she didn't just desire a pleasurable distraction from her loneliness. Sheneeded this, needed him, and the thought in itself was such a head rush she didn't quite know if she could process it.

 

Daryl took Natasha back to the bedroom without a single protest or hesitation, carrying her light weight in his arms and gently setting her on the dusty old mattress, laughing a little absently at the way a puff of dirt popped up as they settled. Neither of them seemed to care much, far too into the other to focus on much else than what they were doing. He held a good amount of his weight on his right elbow propped by her shoulder, pressing her down into the bed and dipping his head down to kiss along her skin.

His lips trailed over her throat to her chest, sampling every part of her that he could find in the darkness. He lifted his head just a bit as his hand ran down to find that same scar he was tracing previously, running his thumb along the mark with such tenderness that he hoped she understood he was in an odd way appreciative of her scars. She fought and he knew that, his breathing picked up as he glanced further down and her legs parted for him to take her, hearing the sound of her breathing catching in her throat.

Natasha sighed as he kissed her again and again, following down her skin wherever he could until he opted for meeting her eyes, waiting partly for instructions further. The look in her eyes that he could barely manage to see in the nearly pitch black surroundings of the bedroom, told him she was on the verge of crying, that he had done something to evoke such an emotional response from someone so strong. He didn’t understand, not at first but then she said one simple word and her fingers dragged through his hair on either side of his head, pleading once for him to take her.

The tracker, kept her blue gaze, his free hand reaching for her chin and tilting her head up just a bit to request she meet his lips in a kiss. He pecked her lightly, deepening it slowly before pressing his forehead to hers and watching her as he hitched her legs higher around his waist and pushed into her tight heat once again. He groaned at the feeling of her surrounding him, his mind nearly blacking out entirely she felt so good, far better than she had before. He thrust into her slowly at first, his pace picking up steadily with each desperate mewl of pleasure.

Her nails bit into his back again, egging him on to take her harder but he resisted, wanting to drive her back up to that same point she was previously. The redhead’s eyes welled up when he kept kissing at her on occasion, pushing up onto his knees and adjusting her beneath him to allow a better angle, her back arching up off the mattress almost completely to where she was hovering with her limbs wrapped around his body, driving herself up onto his thick length for more. His hand tangled into the blanket beneath her body, balling up into a fist and growling harshly as he took her.

He forced himself to maintain control long enough to bring her to that familiar edge but he was only just lasting, his mouth falling open and he kept his eyes on hers, ensuring they watched one another fall to pieces. “Ahh— Fuck-- are you close?” Daryl questioned through his ragged breathing, feeling her clench around him and she gasped out that she was, her heels digging into his rear to drive him into her like she wanted so much from him. He caved and quickened his pace, his lips drawing near hers but he couldn’t even kiss her, his mouth hanging open as her face contorted with her pleasure and she came hard around him, dragging him over the edge with her.

He quickly slipped from her body, coming between their frames and against her abdomen, pressing down into her and grinding down near her belly out of instinct to ride out his pleasure. He eased and dropped his weight over her own, sighing heavily and trying to catch his breath but he couldn’t. He’d had a lot of girls but never one he gave a shit about nor bothered to ensure he made them come undone like that but he wanted nothing more than to watch Natasha lose it time and time again. She let up on her hold around his body, dropping back down to the mattress. “You okay?” He asked in a rough voice, hardly sounding like his own but she nodded and promised that she was.

He slumped into her form, nuzzling into her neck but he wasn’t sure why. He planted a kiss along her skin, making her sigh at the contact and rake her fingers through his hair before he rolled onto his back on the mattress, lying bare and open on top of the bed with her at his side. They said nothing, not for a long while but they didn’t need words. Daryl shifted and tugged at the blankets, pulling it over her frame then his and resting back.

 

Natasha's head lolled over to face her tracker and a sated smile curled her lips though she was sure it was too dark for him to see it. She extended her arm and lightly brushed her curled knuckles over his chest, not really trying to get his attention in particular she simply wanted to keep touching him. He seemed to understand and folded his hands behind his head then simply lay still, his breathing evening out the longer they lay in comfortable silence.

The redhead felt her body slipping into a deep state of relaxation, a dull ache between her legs that she had almost forgotten she could feel. She let her eyes close but still she kept gently running her hand over his warm skin that wasn't covered by the blankets, wanting the connection without fully committing to aligning her naked body to his. There was an impulse in her to do so, but she wasn't quite ready for such intimate contact, not yet. Not after she was still reeling from how intense what they had shared was.

When her movements slowed and she was on the verge of slumber, Daryl suddenly broke the silence. He spoke her name, and it was strange to hear it on his lips but she found she liked it. She hummed a little in response, not opening her eyes but tuning in to whatever it was he might say. His hand caught hers that was barely gliding over his chest any more, threading their fingers and it was several more moments before he spoke again, she almost believed he'd fallen asleep without finishing his thought.

He asked her if she remembered the story he told her about the owl and the raven, and she nodded in the dark, making an affirmative noise in her throat. Daryl's voice got quiet and there was just the tiniest tremble in his hand as he spoke, telling her that he thought he knew what the moon he'd been hunting was now. 

Natasha's blue eyes snapped open and she held her breath as she waited, but he didn't say another word out loud, he simply rolled to face her under the tangled sheets. He squeezed her fingers and leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her shoulder, and Natasha felt his unspoken meaning reverberate through her to her core. He didn't speak, didn't move to gather her up in his arms like might be expected but it was what she needed, if he tried to hold her right now she knew it would be too much, too overwhelming and make her want to bolt. Maybe to most people such words were trivial but to her they were far more than she ever expected to hear much less want to hear.

She turned and curled in towards him as well, her heart rattling in her ribs like a frightened sparrow in a cage. He still held her hand and she drew their clasped fingers up to her full lips, brushing light kisses over his roughed up fingers that now new her body so well. She could just make out his face in the near complete darkness, the tiniest of smiles on his lips made her stomach do a little flip. How was it that this man could have such a profound effect on her in such a small amount of time?

"But how can I be the owl and the moon?" She asked softly, scooting a little closer to him but still not quite near enough for them to wrap their arms around each other like lovers might. Daryl chuckled and told her he wasn't sure, but that if anyone could manage it, it was her and she giggled lightly in return.

Daryl sighed lightly around his questioning of if she recalled the story she told him. He tightened his hold on her fingers just slightly as he spoke to her about it, mentioning that he thought he knew what moon he had been searching for by now. It all made sense, or it was starting to he just hoped that his words didn’t scare her off considering they were difficult in and of themselves for him to even voice to her aloud. He rolled onto his side to face her when she said nothing, leaning over to press his lips to her shoulder in a kind gesture, indicating in his own little way that she didn’t need words or to react, just hear what he said now.

He didn’t reach for her, not like any other man might. He wasn’t even sure he was the type that knew how to cuddle or was even good at something of the sort. Which sounded strange but for him it wasn’t, he had been through so much, never once had a hug from his own family so how could he know the right way to offer one. He wasn’t even sure he was doing everything else right or if she humored him but he supposed she couldn’t fake as much as she would need to with their activities.

He simply kept her hand close and linked tight with his own, watching her move and curl up closer to him but even still he didn’t reach out to hold her. He knew what it was like not to want that, not to trust enough for that quite yet so he didn’t push her, figured that they would ease into it should things come down to that. She kissed at his knuckles, drawing her lip along them each in turn and he smiled in the darkness, listening to her response in the form of another question. “Don’t know but if anyone can do all that, it’s you.” He shrugged, running his thumb back and forth over the back side of her hand until their eyes fluttered closed.

The tracker drifted sometime after they held their discussion, remembering faintly watching her breathing even out until it was nearly inaudible in her sleeping state, telling him to follow after her. He must have shifted in his sleep, their hands slipping from one another when he rolled up onto his side, giving her his back or rather his other side considering he was nearly flat on his stomach with his hands shoved underneath the pillow against his head. He was snoring lightly, in the deepest sleep he had managed since being in his real home and probably even then he was under the influence of something or other that helped him pass out in such a way.

He faintly heard Natasha stirring beside him but he was nowhere near awake enough to react or respond, his eyes remaining closed and he shifted over again, the blanket around his body falling just a bit and his left leg peeking out of the covers, having grown warm in the night. He drifted off completely again and the next time he was stirred was to the feeling of the redhead’s fingers tracing along his back. He stiffened instantly when he came to, his fingers curling around the edge of the pillow he was sleeping on, lying completely still and holding his breath.

Daryl was never one for taking his shirt off, never one for revealing quite so much and if he did pull off the garment when others were around he always kept them from getting behind him. It was a habit that died hard and never once had he let someone touch him like she was. She must not have known he woke either that or she wasn’t quite acknowledging it yet. Not even Merle had been offered a long enough glimpse to know just what their father did to him for years. All this time he thought he was protecting his baby brother, thought he was getting the brunt of it and leaving their dad tired enough to ignore the youngest but if anything it spurred the man on. He took the worst of it each time Merle went to Juvey or the county Jail, every time their dad was reminded of their mothers death and how the boys didn’t save her. Being eight years old didn’t make a difference to the man.

Natasha woke far before her companion did, lying quietly in the dim gray light of pre-dawn for a long while simply thinking over the past few days. So little time had passed and yet so much was different. She gingerly shifted to face her slumbering tracker, content to simply watch the rise and fall of his back as he breathed deeply with his face mostly pressed into the pillow. His sheets had slipped down his body in the night to the middle of his back and in the gradually increasing light she was able to make out a veritable road map of scarring. 

She leaned forward and ever so gently brushed her fingers down his marred skin. The contact woke him but he either didn't care or cared far to much to acknowledge the fact that she was giving attention to his scars so she continued for now. Natasha could read a person's history in their eyes, their posture, their scars. Most of these were very old, given to him while he was still growing so many of the marks were stretched and lightened. Natasha understood better why he was so hesitant to touch, to be touched, much like her he had been a victim of terrible abuse.

Natasha's cool blue eyes swept over every inch of his skin, slowly drawing the blankets down to the base of his spine and she could see the tightness in his muscles as he clung desperately to the illusion that he was still asleep and didn't know she was looking at him even though they both knew better. Her full lips tugged into a small smile as she lightly traced his marks with her fingertips, bending to place feather-soft kisses at points where his scars intersected in various places along his back.

Daryl was shaking slightly beneath her touch and she trailed her lips up his spine to his neck, continuing to run her hand up and down his tortured back as she whispered to him, "I understand why you hide them. Why you hide from them. But it's the same for you as it is for me Daryl... This... What was done to you doesn't define you. Your past is in the past, and while it has left you bent it has not left you broken. There's no shame in bearing the marks of your past, they only hold power over you if you let them." She murmured, her lips quirking up into a little grin as she quoted almost verbatim what her partner had said to her all those years ago, that helped her finally decide she was done hiding, done running.

Daryl's eyes had opened while she spoke but he still had made no move to face her, slowly sitting up and swinging his legs off the side of the mattress. He ran his large hand through his dark hair and sighed, reaching his fingers down to brush over the very top scars he could just reach over his shoulder. He commented that he'd been running a long time, he didn't really know anything else and she had to smile at that.

Natasha sat up as well and pressed her naked front to his bare back, feeling him breathe in sharply at the contact and she wondered if he'd ever had so much contact to his damaged side before at once. She pressed her cheek into his shoulder and looped her thin arms around his chest, just able to thread her fingers together on the other side and she simply held him close for a long quiet moment.

"You don't ever stop running. The trick is to always be running towardssomething, not away from something else." The spy murmured, turning her face in to kiss and nip at the point where his neck met his shoulder and hearing his breathing change into something rougher. He brought his hand to rest over her clasped ones and she pressed herself more firmly against him, wanting him to really feel her presence and understand that she felt his pain, she accepted who he was marks and all and wasn't afraid.

 

Daryl sat up unable to tolerate the feeling anymore, not right at the moment his head was spinning with a thousand different thoughts. He swung his legs off the side of the bed, sitting naked and hardly caring while his hand raked through his dark hair to brush it out of his narrow eyes. He reached around and felt the change in his skin just at the tops of his shoulders like he often did just to remind himself they still existed and he still needed to hide.

“Been runnin’ a long time. Ain’t much else I know ‘sides that.” He mumbled quietly, feeling her weight shift on the mattress and she came over to sit in his space. Natasha’s front pressed up to his back and he couldn’t stop the way he flinched at her contact against him, not used to anyone ever taking to his marred backside like she was. He never allowed it, never really took his shirt off, hell he didn’t even look at himself in the mirror much or like undressing to shower but those were tasks he couldn’t always avoid even if some days he tried.

She slung herself over his back and wrapped her arms around his chest, pressing into him firmly and holding onto him for comfort probably for them both. She made mention that he should run for something… someone or towards it rather than focusing on running away from what was already behind him. He knew it was something that couldn’t come back, his father was dead anyhow. He watched their neighbor put a bullet to the turned man’s head and still it broke him after all he had put him through, after every night of pain he caused him, he still broke down at the loss. That was all he knew for years even as he grew older, came back from his tour in Afghanistan… His dad still decked him a time or two, got rough with him when he drank or hell when he simply felt like it and he took it the a man. Or that’s what he told himself he did but maybe he had just been to cowardly to fight back all that time.

Natasha bit at his neck probably to pull him out of his own head and he groaned lightly in response, absently bringing his hand around to rest over hers along his broad chest. Her body curved easily to fit against his back, pressed firm and tight against him, leaving no space between their bodies and he was increasingly aware of that. His eyes hooded with relaxation as she continued on her path of kisses, his thumb and fingers running back and forth over her hands and forearms around him while she worked. The trackers breathing picked up when she gently grazed her teeth along his shoulder blade to his bicep, working her way back around until he looked down at her.

Their eyes met and he took hold of her right hand while the left unwrapped from around him, brushing over his skin while he shifted and quite easily tugged her around to his side. She followed his prompting and laced their fingers, allowing him to aid her with his free hand on her side to lift her up into his lap with a knee on either side of his frame. “Got my reason to stay.” He muttered when their lips drew near and she was breathing heavily against his face, tucking her hair aside and settling over him. The redhead seemed to understand what he meant, her insistence on him lingering more than a couple times made him feel the need to finally admit he wasn’t planning on disappearing. Not to say she was really worried but he wasn’t so certain that she wasn’t thinking about it he left her.

He let their lips meet softly once then twice and a third time, slowly deepening it each time their mouths brushed together. Daryl reached around to grab at her rear, tugging her forward in his lap and making her moan as their bare sex brushed together beneath the sheets still tangled slightly around their bodies. He freed them from the fabric and focused all his attention on kissing her until she was trembling above him and he pinned her to his frame, rotating their bodies in one smooth motion and taking position above her. His breathing sped further as he eyed her naked frame, kissing down her neck to her chest and abdomen until he reached the worst of her scars on her hip, offering it careful attention.

 

Natasha's heart was pounding in her chest as Daryl rotated their bodies, keeping her gaze locked with his until he bent his head to start a trail of searing kisses down her throat and chest continuing further south till his teeth grazed over her old gunshot scar just above her hip bone. This wasn't like before, not just with him but with any man she chose to warm her bed with either for work or for pleasure. The spy never relinquished control to her partner, not really. She sometimes allowed them to believe they had the upper hand, but really she was simply choosing to let them take the lead in order to manipulate them better to suit her purposes.

But now, Natasha wasn't letting the tracker take charge, wasn't prompting him to take her how he pleased or running the show without his knowledge. She was genuinely surrendering to him, lying prone beneath his questing hands and mouth not wanting to steer him to one course of action or another rather opting to simply receive rather than guide. 

Daryl lingered at her more prominent mark, his rough hands ghosting up and down her pale thighs and Natasha shivered at his touch. Before she would've reached for him, tangled her fingers in his hair and guided his face to the apex of her thighs but right now she was too wrapped up in the way he was looking at her, the way he was worshiping every inch of her skin he could reach with his lips. She didn't want to prompt him, didn't want to be in control... It was an alien feeling, putting her pleasure entirely in her lover's hands but just the simple act of surrendering sent thrills up and down her body.

Her heart fluttered as he kissed across her abdomen closer to her center, but rather than continuing he rose up on one arm, placing a few open mouthed kisses on her knee and just inside it, making her ache and squirm with anticipation. Daryl trailed his hand up and down her opposite leg, seemingly fascinated by the simple act of getting to stroke her soft skin and Natasha found that she quite liked the sly little pleased smirk adorning his features as he began kissing his way back up the inside of her thigh.

The tracker stopped short of her center and kept his face hovering just above her mound, his narrow eyes dark and his breathing labored. Finally he dipped his head down and tasted her, slow at first but quickly growing more eager when she moaned loudly at the contact. He delved his tongue into her slick folds, greedily devouring her nectar and swirling his tongue up around her clit in rapid patterns. 

He focused his attention on her little bud of nerves with his tongue, Natasha's full lips parted and she cried out from the pleasure he was giving her, tipping her shaking legs back to change the angle of her hips and he gripped on to her, holding her in place and coming after her more ravenously. A litany of curses in a handful of languages fell from her lips and she tried in vain to buck against his strong grip on her as he drove her rapidly to her release.

Daryl smirked as he slid down Natasha’s body, teasing her with his well placed kisses along her thighs, against her knee, traveling up and down her frame knowing it was driving her crazy that he wasn’t giving in like she might have wanted him to more quickly. He liked the build, liked hearing her rough intakes of breath each time that he neared her dripping center. He caught her eyes and when she twitched as if she might try to force him down against her, he beat her to the punch diving down into her slick fold and tonguing at her entrance.

She gasped beneath him and each moan she made only encouraged him to delve in deeper and work her up more until she shattered against his mouth. He lapped at her juices greedily, growling like a hungry animal the more he worked her up and the more noise she mad. He adjusted his position and she lifted her hips and legs a bit to give him a better angle along her body. He followed her lead, this was something he had never done before, not for anyone, giving them pleasure like this. The girls he had been with never mattered to him so their pleasure and needs never mattered much either. Somehow he managed to get them off but maybe that was simply because of his ways and his attitude they enjoyed his usual rough capabilities.

The redhead cried out, cursing as he reached up and forced her abdomen down with an arm slung across it, gripping her tight and taking all control over her like he wanted and needed. His breathing was muffled against her core even through his nose, practically panting into her heat with such enthusiasm that she would snap soon enough. She cursed in languages that he didn’t understand but he found he loved the sound knowing full well what she was meaning by each one. Her hand shot down and she grabbed at his forearm, digging her nails into his flesh and making him groan at the bite of pain. He ate her out until she was shaking, coming hard against his tongue and lips twice and leaving his chin slick with her desire.

The tracker pulled off and slipped up her frame, letting her legs fall back against the mattress and allowing her movement. She was breathing heavy, eyeing him almost in disbelief and commenting that he seemed to know what he was doing. He shrugged, “Naw just… Good at listenin’.” He responded in a voice rough with his own want. She smiled lightly at him, seeing the intoxicated look in his eyes and she reached up to brush beneath his lip to clear her excess nectar lingering against his face. She complimented that he was very good at… ‘listening’, making him smirk as he bent over her frame to place a kiss along her lips, lining up their bodies so his length prodded at her core.

Natasha groaned into their slow kiss, ensuring she got a good taste of herself on his tongue and lips as she pulled back and bit at his lower lip, tugging it with her teeth. He chuckled in a tone that was far lighter than when he forced it out normally or used his laugh as a form of mocking someone. She tugged at his arms slightly, hooking her hands against the sides of his neck and face and drawing him in as close as they could manage. “Ain’t got your fix eh, Lucy?” He muttered in a husky tone, following her prompting forward and pushing his tip into her body. He smiled and leaned down to press his lips against her small shoulder and up to her neck, dragging his teeth along her flesh lightly as her heels pressed into his rear. He cradled her mostly, hitching her legs high around his waist and positioning their bodies to push into her completely, moaning against her flesh as he buried himself to the hilt.

 

Natasha mewled desperately as her tracker surrounded her, his larger frame enveloping hers completely on the soft bed. He drove into her deep and slow, stretching her body almost beyond it's limits and she welcomed the sensation of being filled up by him. 

The redhead's hips rocked up in time with his steady motions, little sighs escaping both of them as they moved together. Yes they had had each other before, but this time together in the relative shelter of the farmhouse was completely different than their rushed, heated exchanges out in the woods. Lying here skin to skin once more, now completely open to each other with him knowing her scars and she knowing his was pure bliss.

Daryl dragged his hand down her body to grip her thigh, bracing her as he increased his pace and Natasha moaned loudly as he hit the sweet spot deep inside her again and again, her lower back arching up off the mattress in pleasure. Her nails dug in his skin making him growl and nip at her throat, the sensation sending goosebumps down her body in her hyper-sensitive state.

"Oh god... Fuck just a little more... Harder... Ah!" Natasha pleaded rather than instructed, clinging to her tracker desperately and hovering on the edge of her release but he was in total control of whether or not she tipped off the brink. He was watching her face intently as she writhed and gasped beneath him, keeping her on the verge of her pleasure and with a desperate little sound Natasha finally slipped her hand between them to rub little circles over her clit, burning up from her need to come.

Daryl didn't miss what she did and reached down to snatch her hand away, pressing it firmly into the mattress by her head and chastising her lightly before bending his head to kiss her ravenously. The hunter finally did as she asked, pounding into her harder and faster till she was a shuddering mess beneath him unable to think about anything besides the pleasure he was giving her.

Natasha's voice wound up in volume and pitch, her voice faltering when she finally found her peak. She came hard around his throbbing length, drawing him deeper into her body and she felt him tense up every muscle to keep from exploding inside her. He carried her through a bone melting orgasm before finally succumbing himself, withdrawing from her heat just in time to come against her flat belly. He groaned as she reached down again to pump his shaft and milk him completely dry, her hand trembling somewhat from the force of her climax.

Daryl slumped against her once more, only this time he was completely relaxed when she wrapped her arms around him and let her hands glide over his scarred sweat dampened back. Natasha smiled and began kneading his muscled back and shoulders, enjoying the feeling of him pressing her down into the mattress as he went totally slack atop her. For a moment she wondered if he'd fallen asleep again but then he muttered against her shoulder that they should probably get up and moving.

Natasha sighed as he made himself rise up off of her, catching his face with her hands before he could pull away completely and kissing him softly. She wanted desperately to find her partner, but she would be lying if she said there wasn't a selfish little corner of her now that wanted to never leave this bed with this man in it again. 

“Should probably get a move on, Luc.” Daryl stated lightly against her skin, forcing himself to move up off her despite not really wanting to. Her hands traced up his back and around to his sides as he shifted and rose up just a bit but instantly she grabbed his face and tugged him back to her before he could move too far away. Natasha dragged him down for another kiss and he complied without any resistance.

He kissed her sweetly, stealing another and catching the look in her eyes that told him if he lingered they would get nowhere. “I’m serious. Ain’t gonna get outta bed if yah keep kissin’ me like that.” He chided gently, sealing their lips once more and grinning down at her as he brushed her red locks aside when pulling away. He could tell she wanted to stay and there was a large part of him that would very much like that as well but at the same time they both had tasks to complete, people to find and the least they could do was go as far as they promised they would before, check the area and if nothing showed up then maybe throw in the towel after.

“Worst case… we come back.” The tracker shrugged his broad shoulders, getting up off her and sitting on the end of the bed for a second before getting to his feet and trekking out to the living room, a couple of the candles were still burning while others had nearly melted down to a puddle of wax. Apparently they had forgotten all about the rest of their surroundings. He bent to grab his briefs and pants, pulling them on before passing to find her clothes just as she sauntered out naked and smirked at him, lingering in the hall with all for him to see.

He shook his head at her so obviously trying to lure him back into the bedroom of their borrowed space, stepping over and into her space. He gripped at her and pulled her to him, kissing her lips softly at first but quickly letting it grow more heated until she mewled into his mouth. “Put these on.” Daryl instructed, handing her the balled up panties in his grasp, his opposite hand dangling her bra between them. “I’m gonna see if this place has any leftovers for breakfast. Might be eatin’ on the road.” He sighed, watching her intently as she shimmied her panties back up onto her hips then worked her bra up her arms, circling them around her back to hook it quickly.

He brushed a hand over her hip when he passed her to get to the kitchen, finding himself wanting any form of contact he could get from her even if it was only little things. They managed to scavenge enough to satisfy for a few hours at least, having a semi decent meal especially for their world now. They packed up, got dressed and Daryl had to force himself to stop eyeing her so he wouldn’t take her back to that bed one final time like he wanted so badly.

Natasha took the lead out of the home and down the drive and Daryl decided to close up the house just in case they should come back, at least the closed door would keep walkers out for now. He wasn’t sure what was next for them but he figured it was a good option, should they come up with nothing else. The pair walked in silence like they always did, managing a good few miles before needing a break to replenish once more.

By night fall they came upon a location near the edge of the railroad tracks, finally managing out of the woods and the promise of a city was just along the horizon. “Think your boy’d go someplace specific?” He inquired, breaking their long line of silence and Natasha looked on the edge of a breakdown, taking off into the edge of the city as if she knew exactly where she was going. “’Ey!” He hollered after her, jogging towards her to catch up. She muttered something about knowing Clint he would take the obvious, a high point, the tallest building in the city, make his people should he have any, stay on the top floor so they could fire below.

Daryl’s brow raised but he followed her lead and she asked him if he knew exactly what the highest point in Savannah was. He shook his head, “Naw. Just gotta take a guess. Yah sure he wouldn’t go to city hall or the hospital or somethin’?” He questioned and she answered in the negative, saying Clint always nested in high places, sounding rather amused with her choice in words. He pointed up along the skyline, “Stillwell.” He muttered simply, a large residential complex stood out highest above the rest of the buildings but to him it still seemed odd.

Natasha took off again and he grabbed her when she nearly walked right in to a pack of walkers around the corner. Tugging her aside and plucking a glass bottle from out of the gutter, picking it up and tossing his arm back to launch it over the group of geeks heads. It fell and clattered to the ground, causing and uproar with the clan and every single one of them tore off, drawn out by the noise. “C’mon.” He encouraged, rounding the building and figuring she was only off her game because she wanted so badly to find her friend alive.

They were just nearing the foot of the building, keeping quiet and sneaking around the backside when Daryl felt a change surrounding them. Someone was watching them and it was clear that Natasha felt it too but she didn’t seem scared she seemed far too eager to show fear. She murmured something or other in a foreign language then repeated herself saying that he was there. Daryl shifted and raised his bow, aiming up towards the fire escape, his well-trained eyes and ears catching on to the man’s location and if he was going to draw a weapon on them then so was he.

A blade pressed to his throat from behind and a man’s voice rung out saying for them to relax and give up their weapons. “The only use we have for those is killing walkers.” The stranger muttered and Daryl put his crossbow down, Natasha looked worried, not fearful but perhaps thinking now that who she thought was her friend wasn’t really around. “Brian we’re clear out here. You’ve gotta stop playing secret agent bullshit and just jump into action.” He grumbled up towards the fire escape.

“Element of surprise dude.” The man called Brian said, packing up his rifle and withdrawing the clip and tossing it over his shoulder in one smooth motion. He leapt down the ladder in a few seconds flat, joining the others and the unnamed man pulled his blade away from Daryl just in time for Natasha to react to them both, seeming to get her bearings together again when her mindset had been so focused on finding her old partner. She drew her own weapons and startled them with her response, listening to her demands. “Whoa lady. Chill. It’s just procedure around here. Scare the newbies. Anyways I was only gonna graze his shoulder anyhow.”

Daryl stared them both down, growing more and more confused and at the same time a little concerned considering the last community environment he had been around was run by the person that caused his groups downfall. Natasha demanded to know if they knew where a man named Barton was and both men exchanged an unreadable look, staring back at her soon after. “You know The Hawk? He’s not taking visitors, honey.” Brian answered with a little shake of his head.

Natasha's blue gaze went ice cold and faster than thought she flipped her heavy combat knife in hand and sent the pummel flying to connect solidly with the man's temple. He crumpled unconscious but before he even hit the ground the spy had whirled and taken hold of the second man's arm, using him as a literal leg up to swing her leg up over his shoulder and clinch his head between her thighs, sending them both down against the ground hard except she had control of her impact and he didn't.

Daryl flinched back in surprise when they hit the ground but Natasha's focus was entirely on the man named Brian, twisting his arm back painfully and keeping an iron grip on his head with her legs, keeping him immobile except for the way his body was jerking involuntarily with pain. "Tell me where Barton is or I will kill you." Natasha said with such chilling surety that the air around them practically lowered a couple degrees.

The man gasped like a fish out of water, stammering out that he was still out on a clearing run, so he could be anywhere in the city but that the rules he had put down were that all clearing parties were to report back by sundown so he'd be back to their base that evening.

Natasha's delicate brow furrowed. "Clearing parties? What are you talking about? Explain your situation here." She demanded, easing up her grip only slightly so the man could speak more freely. Brian wasn't thinking about much besides getting free of her hold, sputtering and squirming until Daryl stepped in, aiming his heavy crossbow a mere inch from the man's cranium.

Natasha's eyes got wider as she watched Daryl threaten the man with a hole between his eyes if he didn't answer her questions, and that seemed to motivate him sufficiently to stop struggling and actually give them what they wanted. He explained in a pained tone that he and his friend had been drifters until 'the Hawk' found them, recruiting them to help him save a small group of people that had been isolated in a pocket of the city. He promised them safe haven if they helped him get everyone out, so now they were stationed at the base of the building on guard duty while Barton and a few other more fit members of the group worked to clear a reasonable path out of Savannah for the more debilitated members. 

He told them that they were planning on making a run for it the next day as a matter of fact, and Natasha's heart pounded to think of how close she had come to missing her partner yet again. But at least she knew he was alive. The redhead was satisfied enough by his answer, releasing him and going to check on his companion who was groaning on the ground still down for the count. Daryl kept his crossbow trained on Brian but let him get to his feet, advising the man he should just leave his rifle on the ground for now.

Natasha turned and faced them, putting her blade away as a sign of good faith for now. "I'm a member of the Hawk's organization that can offer you and your group shelter. Did he ever show you anything that looks like this?" Natasha asked, pointing at the shield logo on the shoulder of her jacked and Brian nodded, still rubbing his now sore neck. "We'll help you get everyone to safety, but I need to speak with Barton as soon as he returns. Will he come back here?" the redhead asked, glancing at Daryl and communicating to him with her eyes that it was all right for him to lower his crossbow, which he did.

Brian responded that the Hawk would be coming back to this entrance, assuming that he did make it back. Natasha's anger flared again and she twitched with the need to make this man hurt again, but she managed to maintain her composure. "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" She asked in a dangerous tone. The man responded that Barton had been injured a couple days back, but that he still insisted on going out on clearing runs anyway. None of them spoke against him since he was the one offering a chance at safety, but there were usually running bets every day if he was gonna make it back or not.

Natasha nodded curtly, her hands flexing at her sides and she internally cursed her partner's disregard for his own well-being. It was risky for her to simply go looking for Clint out in the city, he might very well shoot her before she had a chance to let him know it was her. For now she'd just have to hope that her partner knew what he was doing. It was nearly sundown now, they shouldn't have long to wait.

Daryl didn’t hesitate to take Natasha’s side on this entire situation, raising his bow and threatening the other man with a bolt between the eyes if he didn’t comply with Natasha’s questioning. The man very quickly explained himself and his companion, telling them about ‘The Hawk’s’ location and tasks at hand, mentioning the man’s promise of safety from the rest of this cruel world, something Daryl was almost certain couldn’t be offered anymore but idiots like these fools seemed to cling to any thread of hope they could seem to find buried deep around here.

She finally released him but the tracker didn’t pull up on his weapon, watching her in his peripherals but at the same time keeping an eye on the man lying before him rubbing at his now sore neck. “I’d keep your hands off that rifle o’ yours. Leave it on the ground ‘til we can figure shit out.” He grumbled to the man called Brian. Natasha spoke up again, putting her weapon away and informing them all that she was a part of The Hawk’s group, his organization that could in fact bring them shelter and promises of safety.

Brian shook his head, seeming far more nervous than he was beforehand, “The Hawk is meant to come back to the entrance later this evening like we always agreed to. That is if he actually does make it back…” He muttered, his hands raising instinctively to block any blow she might throw his way, stammering out another response to her next question and backpedaling from where he stood. “He was hurt a couple days ago but he still makes runs all the time. He says he’s fine so none of us argue ‘cuz he’s done so much shit for us so far and the promise of having a place to stay is more or less the reason we won’t let him fall behind and… try not to piss him off for fear he’ll change his mind but there’s a pool going in regards to how long he’ll actually last and if he’ll make it back or not.” He said in a rush.

“Take us inside.” Daryl spoke up, staring the shorter man down and startling him with only his sharp gaze.

“I-I can’t. It’s not up to me. It’s up to him. He makes the calls on the newcomers!” Brian’s voice raise a few octaves out of fear, his tone trembling, worried the man might pull his weapon up again and actually take the shot. “The best I can offer is to keep watch with you outside the doors until he returns. I’m sor—“ He started but Natasha cut him off, surging forward and demanding they get let into the proper building and be treated as refugees just the same, informing him that Barton would understand once he saw her. Her fingers curled tight in the front of his navy blue button down shirt, nearly yanking him off his feet. “Okay. Okay. We use the Southwest entrance around the corner. The double doors. That’s where he’d come through. He should be here within the hour if he’s gonna make it back.”

The other man didn’t take to his weapon at all, for a couple of guys who just tried to fight they sure as hell were cowards when someone put up a little resistance against them. Probably all for show. Brian’s companion pointed out the way and soon enough Daryl scooped up the rifle, slung it over his back and followed these bastards inside to their makeshift camp. It was actually fairly nice for the whole town being virtually empty and abandoned.

Natasha was pacing back and forth and he knew that she was getting anxious to see him return, recalling her telling him about the man that saved her life more or less. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, stopping her from walking another line, “You’re gonna wear a track in the damn tile, Luc.” He informed her lightly, offering that tiny smile he saved just for her and gently tugging her to him so she could follow and take a seat. Just like the others said, people started slowly showing up from their runs into the city, questioning the newcomers and if they had been checked over but Natasha was stern enough to push back anyone that tried to disrupt them in any manner.

“We’re not taking more strays.” A voice muttered from down the hall, sounding rather exhausted as he was informed of the arrival of others. “I’m gonna have to fire Brian if he can’t do his job. He’s supposed to keep people from coming in here and what the hell’s he do? He’s escorts them inside.” Clint limped forward, pushing through one of the doors that lead to the main lobby area from the parking garage or what used to be the parking garage but now was more or less a place for storage.

He was all but dragging his right foot, fairly certain something or other snapped in there but what could he do? He wasn’t the type to just sit still and not in a world like this, you were down and out and people would shoot you straight on just to make it easier. You’re only as strong as your weakest link after all and Clint refused to let himself be the ball and chain of this group, the one dragging them down and slowing their roll when they needed more than anything to keep on moving to get out alive. So he pushed through the pain every second, kept his focus on other things like caring for others, killing walkers, making runs for supplies.

Another man came to Clint’s aid, taking the bag from his hands that likely held more than enough to feed their small group of people. He made it inside and his silver eyes flickered to the back side of the room, catching side of Daryl and their gazes met. “Great it’s a dirty fuckin’ hippy.” The archer half laughed, wincing as he forced himself to take the few feet over to where the man stood and then… someone else caught his eyes, leaning back against the wall to his left was a rundown yet still incredibly gorgeous redhead. His pace stopped and he stared at her in disbelief, his thumb hooked into the string of the bow wrapped around him dropped as it clicked. “Nat? You look like Hell.” He muttered in a teasing tone.

 

"You don't look so hot yourself gimpy." Natasha returned without missing a beat, a knowing little smile adorning her full lips. Her heart was pounding, she'd been fighting down those terrible doubts that had crept into her heart that her partner really was dead, thrown everything else aside to find him and here he was, alive if a little the worse for wear. But she wouldn't show an inch of what she was feeling, couldn't, not in front of the other strangers in the hall at least. But the way Clint was smiling at her she knew he understood her lack or reaction wasn't due to apathy, it was just her way.

"What are you doing here, Clint? You know this city was designated a hot zone. I was ordered to wash my hands of you, you know." Natasha said in an even tone, though they both knew exactly what he was up to. The archer had always allowed his heart to talk him into fools errands such as these, but it was part of what the redhead loved about her partner. Aiding him in his cause or at least pulling his ass out of the fires he got himself into made her feel more human somehow.

The archer chuckled, glancing from her to Daryl who stood silently to her right, answering her just how she knew he would and moving right along to what he was more interested in, asking her who her 'scowly friend' was and how they'd managed to find him.

Natasha rolled her eyes at the marksman's cavalier attitude, looking at Daryl and back. "This is Daryl Dixon. We ran across each other on the edge of the city limits, we were both looking for someone, figured we'd have a better chance if we did it together." She responded, the smallest of grins flickering over her pretty features as she met her tracker's eyes.

"Obviously I was searching for your sorry ass, but he's lost people as well. I was hoping at least some of them might be among your charges. Seemed like a good place to start anyway. You've got refugees from all over, haven't you?" Natasha surmised.

Clint hadn’t missed the little grin that Natasha gave to Daryl and the way that the man very tightly returned it. “Did it together huh?” He smirked to himself but for now he bit his tongue on the matter, “For one, my ass is not sorry. And to answer your question…” He shrugged, “Don’t know where half these people came trottin’ over from. I’d say a good 80 percent or so are from Savannah. Got a couple from elsewhere, Albany, Waycross, think some dude from Cadwell or something.”

Daryl’s shoulders slumped slightly, looking to Natasha who seemed to get that none of his group was from any of those locations in the state. “I’m guessing that’s not what you wanted to hear?” The blond archer questioned with only slight sympathy. “We had a few others… Had one pretty rough encounter a couple days back. Kid got bit, Daddy went back fighting for his body and well it didn’t turn out like he hoped. The other girl they were with shot herself that evening. Wasn’t much I could do.”

The dark haired man’s eyes flickered to lock onto Clint’s in an almost frighteningly quick fashion. That could have been Rick and Carl or Judith… With maybe Maggie or Beth. Maggie seemed more likely though considering how far out they got away from their camp, having no idea what the others were doing. Maggie wasn’t a coward she would never take herself like that… unless Glenn was gone too and she had nothing left anyways. His mind raced and his heart pounded in his chest, trying to work up the courage to ask, find the words in his throat somewhere. “Where? Where were they from?” He questioned.

Clint shook his head at the other man, “I don’t remember. Uhh—Guys name was Charlie, if that helps?” He offered, looking at Natasha as if she might be able to help him out of this. It wasn’t exactly an easy part of the job having to do detective work or tell someone that their friend or loved one was dead. “Look things get really quiet and people settle in around dinner time. Have a look around then.” He suggested to the other, giving yet another shrug.

Daryl didn’t like the idea of waiting even longer to find out if his friends were dead or alive but he nodded, trekking off for the time being, more to not get irate with the man before them for not simply having real answers to his questions like he wanted. “He seems nice.” Clint quipped once the man departed from their space, smiling knowingly at Natasha. She rolled her eyes and mentioned something about how he was looking for someone in particular but he never said who even to her but it was someone important apparently. “Does that make me important? You know we were gonna ditch this joint in the morning? Would you have cried if I wasn’t here like you thought?” He half teased again, earning her slugging him in the shoulder and he flinched against it.

\---

Daryl kept to himself most the evening even when dinner rolled around, he sat in the corner of the hall by himself, picking at his food he had been given by some older woman who kept wanting to get him to talk to her. She didn’t seem to get the point until he cussed her out, called her an old bitch and snapped until she darted away from him like he might just very well hit her. He was back in that same state he had been before Natasha, thinking about how he never should have taken to that house with Beth. He should have known someone else was there, should never have opened the door or left her on her own like he had, especially when she had hurt her foot as badly as she had. If she was gone it was his fault.

A noise caught his attention just as he dug his rusted spoon into the bowl in his hands, about to take another bite. Someone was singing. He thought his mind was playing tricks on him, that he was thinking back to how he slept in that coffin and napped to the sound of her lullabies on the piano. His heart pounded and he shot up from his spot, leaving his crossbow unattended like he might not normally. He raced through the other side of the room, down the hall and to where he knew most everyone was holding their little get together like this was some sort of slumber party rather than the damn apocalypse.

He pushed through the doors and a tiny blonde was making her way around to pick up anyone’s empty plates and bowls, happily singing as she went and making the other’s smile. Something she was good at… Beth could always make people smile, even Daryl when he didn’t exactly want to. He watched her for a moment as if it were a dream, her movements almost like she was dancing from seat to seat to clean up the mess and he could feel Natasha watching him just the same, muttering his name but he didn’t respond. Beth must have caught it though even over the light roar of the people around them and her singing quieted into nothing, trailing off as she tried not to cry at the sight of him standing there.

They had a long standing bond from before but more recently when they first got separated from the group, it grew into something deeper and more than just watching out for someone you had to. She was like his family, knew all about him by now for the most part, helped him burn down his house to clean out his mind of the shit hole of a place and took care of him when he broke down once or twice. She dropped the dishware on the table in front of her and tore off with a little sob escaping her, saying his name as she ran around, knocking over one of the empty seats to get to him. She was far more openly affectionate than himself and he came to accept that just the same, unfazed by her suddenly leaping up into his arms and forcing him to cradle her against his frame.

Daryl was stiff, in disbelief that she was here before him, her legs bent at the knee as she leaned up into him and wrapped her arms tight around his thick neck, saying his name again as if for confirmation but he couldn’t respond, not right now, ignoring the few people around them that hadn’t missed their exchange at all. She put her feet on the ground but didn’t let him go and he pinned his arms around her back, letting her hang on him for as long as she wanted and needed to. He closed his eyes, enjoying the contact surprisingly just as much as she seemed to be. He never thought he would care about anyone again, nor have someone care about him in the same manner but she was his friend, truly.

 

Natasha's eyes widened in surprise as she watched Daryl's reunion with the willowy young blonde girl. Feeling her guts clench up unexpectedly when she sprang into his arms and twist even further when he wrapped his arms around her in return. Even though they were embracing in a public space she felt like by staring how she was she was intruding on a private moment, but still she remained rooted to the spot watching their obviously heartfelt hug.

It shouldn't bother her. That was the first thing she told herself, her heart getting frosty in response to the confusing sense of unease she got watching them behave so intimately and in front of a bunch of strangers no less. Clint limped over to her side, gently nudging her arm with his and looking from the pair back to the redhead.

He asked her what was wrong, and Natasha shook her head in a clipped fashion. "Nothing. That's how normal people greet someone they care about that they thought was lost to them." She said in a strained monotone, looking up and meeting Clint's gunmetal eyes and suddenly feeling deficient for not being able to properly communicate to the archer how worried she had been for him. 

She looked back at Daryl who was still holding the little blonde close, suddenly hearing his quiet words to her just that morning, "Got my reason to stay." and it took everything in her not to visibly flinch. She told herself again that it shouldn't bother her, that it was stupid of her in the first place to have allowed herself feelings of attachment that led up to this moment. 

On one hand she told herself not to be selfish, it was an event bordering on the miraculous nowadays to come across another person you had a connection with, to find them alive and whole again once lost. But she couldn't help but feel lied to, if he had these feelings for this young woman then why had he behaved the way he did with her? She couldn't help but feel like a complete and utter fool for actually letting herself feel anything for the tracker, for opening up her heart that was better off fettered shut.

Clint gripped her arm, forcing her to give him her attention again but she stubbornly refused to meet his gaze any longer, damn archer could always read through her walls and the last thing she wanted was to explain her idiocy to her partner. "Has anyone had a look at that leg?" She asked, cutting off anything else he might've been planning to say to her. "I'm wagering I have the most medical experience of anyone here, such as it is." She added, wanting a valid excuse to leave this space and having to watch the tracker fawn over his lost love so it wouldn't look like she was simply slinking off to sulk.

Daryl embraced his old companion for a moment or two more, letting her all the time she needed but his grip let up. She seemed to take the cue a bit and loosen her hold as well, resting against his chest and he knew she was crying. He was never really good with crying but Beth had only just started that up again, for a long while she refused to shed a tear, until she lost her dad, felt nothing else remained for her except the tracker. He had to be there, he felt an obligation towards this young woman he saw as family now, his only family left.

Clint noted Natasha’s change in her demeanor and it told him or rather confirmed the fact that she had feelings for this stranger she only just met. The end of the world had a way of changing people he supposed but… Natasha Romanoff was a hard woman to change really or get to open up like she seemed she had with the other archer. He limped towards her and leaned against the wall near her side, nudging at her arm. “What’s wrong, Nat?” He asked, looking down at her blue gaze and trying to get a good read on what she might be feeling. They had a certain kind of bond that developed through years of being partners and friends, a way of communicating without a sound.

She snapped back that it was nothing, claiming her anger was about the fact that well… maybe neither herself nor Clint were normal in the way they greeted each other, as acquaintances more than friends and apparently that bothered her so suddenly. They weren’t the huggy type of people not at all but he accepted that for the moment until her stance changed and her fists clenched up without her knowledge. He reached a hand over to grab her arm and keep her from taking off when he thought she might or from… taking the girl out right in front of all these people. “Natasha.” He said her name almost as a question but she refused to look at him so he could talk to her.

She glanced at his leg instead and his brow furrowed at her questioning, knowing she was trying to brush him off in a manner of speaking. “You’re about the only person I trust to fix me up anyhow, you know that.” He smiled at her crookedly, figuring maybe if they left the situation he could get her to talk to him. “Take yah up to my place, huh?” He teased, offering her a wink but he still grinned to inform her he was joking and trying to in a sense lighten up her mood. His silver gaze flickered over to where Beth and Daryl were still touching and talking, not missing that the hug ended but Beth was gripping to his fingers like no other and the man didn’t pull away.

Clint tossed his head to the door and started off at a slow limp to the other room, taking one hallway to another room where his bow and equipment were all resting out along his bed and dresser. “I heard it crack but I think just fractured my ankle a bit, bruised up my heel pretty good and could be a tear of some sort in there.” He stated like it was nothing, watching Natasha who normally was so overly self-confident seem to be closing in on herself and getting stuck in her own mind. “Are you gonna tell me what’s up?”

He waited, getting nothing from her at first when she went to the dresser and plucked the large first aid kit from the top, figuring she might need to at least wrap it up to keep it splinted in something or other. “You guys fucked around huh?” He asked her, getting nothing in response yet again but the look in her blue eyes, the way she was trying so hard to hide it made him believe they had… connected. “Beth’s never talked about him. Just her sister, Maggie… Some guy named Glenn, told me how her family died but she’s holding on hope that Maggie’s still around somewhere. Not once did I hear the name Daryl.” He informed her, hoping in a way that would reassure his companion as he dropped down to sit in one of the chairs in the ‘living room’ of his borrowed space.

Natasha tried her best to keep her features neutral as Clint spoke to her, a dry chuckle escaping her as she knelt at his feet with the first aid kit. "You really don't know much about women, do you Cupid?" She accused, removing his heavy boot as gingerly as possible and inspecting his horribly swollen black and purple foot. He asked her what she meant, trying to laugh through the pain but he hissed sharply when she started testing his range of motion.

"Women, young girls like her especially, aren't going to tell a strange man about the one their heart belongs to." She responded, clicking on her small flashlight to get a better look at his limb in the less than bright light. Natasha's insides were churning but she made herself focus on her task, trying to push her tumultuous feelings down and think clinically, make her chief concern her partner's well-being.

"Dammit Barton, how do manage to do these things to yourself?" Natasha asked, everything he'd listed off and more was apparent, only she was positive his ankle was broken not merely fractured, and if there was one tear in the ligaments and muscles there were twenty by the way he could hardly move his foot. She was amazed he was even able to stand let alone walk, but that was Clint and his mile wide stubborn streak.

"There's not much I can do here I'm afraid. I did see some arnica growing a few blocks over when we came into the city, I can go and fetch some at first light, it'll help with the bruising at least, maybe keep clots from forming. Try and preserve it as best we can till we get back to the base." Natasha murmured, not wanting to say what they were both aware of, if his injuries went untreated much longer, especially since he wasn't going to accept staying off his leg, he was likely going to lose the foot when they got back to the shield base, assuming any of the internal injuries didn't go septic and kill him first.

Clint agreed with everything she told him, trying to hold his peace as she wrapped up his foot to at least keep it more secure and give it a chance of healing in a more proper position. He asked her again to tell him what was going on between her and the dark haired archer she'd rolled into town with threatening her with his old standby of telling her corny jokes until she gave in.

"Nothing. There isn't anything going on between us Clint, don't be such a child." Natasha responded sharply, though she wasn't sure if it was so much her partner she was berating as herself. Sulking about her own stupid decision to let someone in after all these years, and a man she hadn't even known for a week at that was truly childish behavior. She might've thought she knew the tracker, foolishly believed he had shown her a side of himself he let few if any others see, but that was clearly not the case and she needed to just accept it and move on.

Clint winced, hissing through his teeth at the pain Natasha was causing him as she examined his foot and started wrapping it up. So maybe asking about the tracker at a time like this wasn’t the smartest of all ideas. It felt like she was taking it out on his limb in a way though he knew full well she wasn’t. He was just… far beyond repair and in so much pain everything felt that way. She was probably the first person he even let see that he was hurting as much as he was.

“I might not know a lot about women… but I do know you’re fucking full of shit, Nat.” He grumbled and groaned when she tightened the wrap around his foot. “Ow! Jeez, alright!” He snapped at her, “I’d like to try to keep my foot, thanks.” He gasped out and she apologized to him in a cut tone. He sometimes wished he could get through to her a little easier but most days he couldn’t manage a single honest statement even when it was only him around.

He was panting and trying not to pass out from the pain making all his senses hone in on that and only that. “Can I say somethin’? Don’t you think—that if they were in love or whatever… He’d have kissed her even just a little?” The blond pointed out and she responded quietly that he wasn’t the type to do that, to show affection like that even in a hug. He arched a brow and started to open his mouth and ask why she would know that if nothing was going on and she very quickly shot up from where she was knelt, telling him to bite his tongue or she would cut off more than just his foot before it was that time.

Natasha left him immediately before he could reply to her, making his head fall back against the chair out of defeat but he didn’t get up to follow mostly because he couldn’t manage it right now. He wasn’t stupid, she never got upset about another man before, never showed her jealousy no matter what occurred. He sighed heavily, figuring for now he would let it go.

Daryl spent the time that Natasha was in Clint’s room, talking to Beth but he couldn’t help his gaze flickering over to the door, wondering what was going on down the hall. They weren’t anything… they weren’t labeled and from what she told him Clint wasn’t her type or something like that. Still his mind wandered to those lines of thoughts, wondering if just maybe reuniting with a man she knew for as long as she had, sparked something she had suppressed for so long.

Natasha popped out of the other archer’s room and though he was in the middle of listening to Beth’s on going story about how Clint stumbled upon her and took down the guy that kidnapped her… he couldn’t help but want to go after her instead. He cared for Beth but… Natasha was different. The tracker carefully extracted himself from the little blonde who had opted for hooking their arms together at the elbow on the sofa they sat on. “Beth I uhh—We’ll talk later ‘kay?” He prompted, pulling away from her and she stared up at him broken heartedly, making him feel torn.

The redhead must have seen them, veering off the other direction and pretending that she hadn’t. Beth asked him why, questioning if he would stay with her tonight or if they were leaving, “Yeah.” He answered, distracted by the woman strutting away from them both. She asked him which that was a positive answer for and he finally looked at the tiny woman beside him, “I don’t know…” He muttered, pushing her hand off of his leg when she tried to keep him sitting there with her instead. He understood where it came from, her need for someone familiar but right now he couldn’t provide, couldn’t even offer his ear to listen when Natasha was heavy on his mind.

Without another word he followed after Natasha, grabbing his crossbow against the wall and lugging it on his back for safe keeping. “Luc—“ He called, starting at a jog when her pace picked up a bit more to catch up with her surprisingly quick stride for as small as she was. She didn’t answer to him, didn’t acknowledge him even when he followed her into an empty room and she no longer had a place to run. He closed the door and stared her down, keeping completely quiet until she finally snipped at him, asking why he was chasing her. “The hell’s wrong with you? Ain’t center of attention for five seconds so yah run off with ‘The Hawk.’” He mocked the name, his voice casual and light for the words he just said but he was trying to keep her from snapping at him… even though she might considering the subject matter.

 

Natasha stood with her back facing the man who had followed her into the dusty vacant office she'd ducked into, trying to lose the tracker was more difficult than giving an average man the slip. "Why did you chase after me? Haven't you got somewhere you need to be?" She snipped, more hurt coming out in her voice than she wanted but it had affected her a lot more than she cared to admit seeing Daryl with another woman wrapped around him.

He came back at her in a more subdued tone, but it still made her anger flare to think he found her so petty. Natasha whirled and stepped into the taller man's space, wanting to lay into him just to vent some of the cacophony of emotion swirling inside her but she managed to keep her voice low and even and even though it hurt she made herself look him in the eye as she spoke.

"But I never was the center of attention at all, was I? It's fine if she's the one you really want, but you didn't have to make me believe... Didn't have to make me want..." Natasha faltered and she knew she couldn't keep going down that vein of conversation, her eyes pricking with tears she refused to shed feeling like the biggest idiot on the surface of the earth. It wasn't supposed to end up like this. She had been the one using him in the beginning, why did she have to go and let her heart get involved? 

She cleared her throat to get her bearings a bit again, blinking back her tears as best as she could. "And I didn't 'run off' with Clint. He's my partner I've worked with for over ten years, he's saved my ass more times than I can count and it's my responsibility to tend to his wounds if I can. I was just wrapping his damn leg, for all the good it'll do he'll probably lose it anyway, looking after these miscreants who don't deserve it." Natasha continued, her voice getting bitter as all her worries flowed out of her at once whether they concerned herself, Daryl or her partner she couldn't seem to stop the deluge.

Throughout her outburst the dark-haired hunter said nothing, staring at her intently but the anger and confusion in his narrow eyes had been replaced by something Natasha couldn't quite identify. She waited to see if he would speak, the silence between them so tense it was almost palpable. Still he said nothing and so finally Natasha scoffed, letting her eyes fall back to the ground feeling like an even bigger fool for wanting some kind of reaction from him.

"I don't think there's anything left to say. I'm sure your lover is wondering where you ran off to." Natasha meant for the words to be sharp but they came out so pitifully broken down that it sounded pathetic even to her own ears. She shifted her weight uneasily from one foot to the other, holding her breath trying to keep her uneven breathing in check until he finally elected to leave her alone with her shame.

Daryl stood very still, watching her as she spoke to him, claiming Clint was only her work partner and he tried to bite his tongue on the few other things he wanted to say for the time being. He wanted to bring up the necklace she wore, the way she spoke so highly of him but at the same time he wasn’t dumb. She told him how important this man was to her, how he saved her from the life she led before, how he had taught her to do good, to survive and a load of other things he probably should be thanking the other for anyways. He knew what Clint meant to her really but at the same time he still couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of their bond, that maybe this man knew more about her than he did and it was likely because he knew her longer.

Still he accused her as such but her response about the archer’s foot, how she seemed overly upset by the fact that he was hurt and risked himself for those she saw unworthy, made his attitude change. He understood but at the same moment he didn’t, what was different between his wanting to talk with Beth and her wanting to care for another man. He kept his peace, said nothing, and reacted in almost no manner, almost in disbelief of her double standard.

She scoffed at him and tore her eyes away from his own but his gaze never faltered, lingering on her face regardless. And then she said those few words and he couldn’t tell if she was accusing him or questioning herself on her accuracy of her assumptions. The tracker said nothing, popping open the door again and leaving her to cry on her own without him having to watch something so entirely pathetic. Or perhaps it was he didn’t want to watch because it tore him up to do so, to see her sad even if maybe he was the one screwing up somehow.

He wandered back out to where Beth was sitting alone now, the young blonde looking worriedly up at him and asking why he had to tear off so suddenly. He shook his head and claimed it didn’t matter right now. “Okay well if y’all are stayin’ then you’ll need a bed. We’re ‘posed to be headin’ out sometime tomorrow. Not sure when but Clint says it’s not safe here anymore despite our clean up. He’s like you… I think he just gets stir crazy, can’t sit around and watch the world fall apart.” The tiny woman beside him commented. “And your friend did you want—“ She started up but he cut her off.

“Ain’t talkin’ bout her, Blondie.” Daryl snipped at her instantly. “Get some sleep.” He muttered, getting up again but she followed him, grabbing his arm and asking him in a quiet tone if he would stay at least near her space like he used to. She claimed she hadn’t slept well since knowing he wasn’t around to watch over her like he always had before. “Beth you’re eighteen. You’re a big girl, you don’t need me.” He answered, more because he wondered if he did agree to stay with her, how Natasha might react.

He started to pull away but her hand shot out, more daring than most about making contact with the usually harsh man. “Daryl please. I’m not asking you to cuddle with me or even stay in the same bed just… I don’t have anybody.” Beth pleaded with the hunter, gripping his forearm with both her hands now to keep him in place though he could very well pull away if he wanted to in a moment. The man nodded at her once, indicating that she got her wishes, that he was going to stay close by at least to help her rest easy for the night, especially considering they had a long road ahead of them.

\----

Daryl did just that, taking to a blanket on the floor in the same space as Beth only sleeping on opposite walls entirely. The morning when he woke they went to breakfast together and she forced him to stay in the kitchen area with the rest of the group to eat. He sat at her side only because she pretty much dragged him there, feeling her leaning into his arm just a little while she spoke to someone else for a while then took to asking him about Natasha. He ignored her every comment, every word, pretended not to hear or care until Natasha came in, helping Clint walk or rather limp harshly into the space to join them for food.

They both sat down and her blue eyes avoided his location entirely but he knew she saw him and he refused to break his own glance from where she was. Clint dropped down into a chair and they all ate breakfast together but not much longer after did he bring up the need for them to get packing and heading out. Slowly but surely everyone got up from the table, left their spaces and headed to do just as the archer instructed them to. Daryl was wary even though the redhead claimed this man was a good man… Many said the same about The Governor and sometimes he wondered if his mind worked the same way. All he could consider at the moment was getting Beth out but he supposed that he always had trust issues more than most.

Natasha helped her partner stagger into the area they'd designated as a sort of community mess hall, where all the food anyone brought in was split up evenly with preference given to the couple children and few elderly or invalids in the group. Everyone there seemed to have taken to Clint's leadership well, which didn't surprise her at all considering her partner's odd way of winning people over. 

She wondered absently if Clint and Daryl would get along if given the chance to get to know each other, but quickly shut down that line of thought since it wasn't her place to concern herself with the tracker any longer. They'd achieved the goals they first set out to meet when she'd first roped him in to travel with her, and now she needed to be content with having her partner back and Daryl his young lover.

Still the longer she watched the pair without appearing to watch them, the more her stomach turned inside out with knots. The spy only half paid attention to the plans Clint and the couple other men he'd given small amounts of responsibility to were laying out, agreeing with her partner's course of action but not necessarily agreeing that they could move all these people to the train depot so they could follow the tracks to the shield base as quickly as they were estimating.

"Clint, you've got four people over the age of 70 here, not to mention one pregnant woman and a handful of mobility limiting injuries." Natasha interjected, her blue gaze darting to the archer's own destroyed foot though it was too fast for anyone other than her partner to catch. "More clearing out of these two areas here needs to happen before we can move these people." She advised, pointing to the locations on the map where they had scouted heavy concentrations of walkers. Clint nodded in agreement, saying he was planning on taking a team out himself after they ate and Natasha shook her head, berating him in Russian so the others wouldn't understand.

"Like hell you are Barton. You can hardly walk, let alone hold your own in a fight if things go sideways. These people see you as a leader, a source of strength and a promise of safety. You need to stay here, direct the pack up and show them they way. I'll go. Your men can take this patch and I'll clear out the other." She instructed, her tone and expression not allowing for 'no' as an answer. Her blue gaze flickered over to the tracker and his blonde companion, and she murmured under her breath in English, "Here is where you'll be of the most use. Out there is where I will be. Killing's what I'm best at, remember?" She looked back at her partner and a smirk crossed her lips. 

The redhead stood and left them before the marksman had a chance to protest her plan. They both knew it would give the group a better chance of getting out of the city limits alive, and that it was foolish to put any more able bodied people at risk when they would be needed to help the more feeble members of the group travel to the safe zone. 

Natasha checked all her weapons as she strode out, along the way grabbing a rifle and a long piece of heavy steel rebar about as long as her arm that had been sharpened to a point at one end. It was a huge risk, going out there alone to a known hotspot full of walkers, but the more she killed now the better chance her injured partner and the group he led would have of getting out alive. Daryl's face flashed in her mind as she stepped out through the doors and walked resolutely down the abandoned street, glancing up at the sky and wishing that the moon was out. 

It had been stupid of her to lower her barriers, to allow herself to feel like she connected with another person, like a normal human with a heart might do. Now that she knew Clint was alive and at least relatively likely to get to safety, she could go back to what she did best, to who she really was before she ever made the mistake of not leaving her tracker to lie unconscious in the leaves. She was a killer, plain and simple. And if she died using her skills to help the only people in the world she loved in her own way, well... So be it.

Daryl and Clint both watched Natasha leave, neither man getting up to follow after her though both felt the same inclination and wore similar worried looks on their faces. Clint sighed heavily, knowing it wasn’t worth telling her not to go but at the same time she couldn’t be on her own for long out there without getting herself hurt like him or worse. He took to his meal that one of the younger women brought over, for now letting the knowledge of her departure go because he knew for certain this was more about her need to blow off a little steam.

She would probably wear herself down, find a place to rest and they would catch her later. The makeshift mess hall started to clear out and the others departed to pack up their things so at least the separate trained group could clear out the second location that Natasha instructed the archer to have them do. Clint watched his men leave the building, leaning against the wall heavily, his foot was throbbing and he was almost certain that he wasn’t going to last. He didn’t voice that, not to anyone not even Natasha but his mind kept playing the option in his head. Cut it off now… The risk of infection was too high even if he kept it bandaged. Blood loss was another factor.

He had people to care for anyways, get them to safety then he could suffer on his own in the woods. Just go to sleep and let it happen if it was meant to. “Hey Oscar.” The archer called, limping towards the dark haired man packing up his bow and arrows to join part of the other clearing team whether they wanted him to or not. Daryl glanced up and scowled at him, asking what the fuck that even meant. “Sesame Street? Oscar the Grouch?” He continued, gesturing with his hands to encourage him to remember the show but he didn’t seem to catch on. “Alright never mind then.” He sighed.

“I forgot you country folks probably haven’t seen one of them picture boxes before anyhow.” He teased the tracker in a mock Southern accent, managing towards him but raising a hand in defense when Daryl looked like he might raise his hand and throw a punch his way. “Easy there, Biceps. I need you to make a run for me. Go get Natasha.”

“Can’t. Swore I’d just get her tah you. Ain’t nothin’ more.” Daryl snipped, bending over and refocusing on his task of wiping down his crossbow quickly. He tossed it over his shoulder and slung it on his back, heading away from Clint only to feel the man grab at his shirt and yank him back as much as he could. “Get your fuckin’ hands off me!” He yelled, watching the other archer stumble forward a bit and wince in pain when he slapped his hand away but Daryl refused to help him or offer sympathy.

Clint drew really close to him, not fearful at all, hell he had dealt with a lot in worse conditions if one could imagine such. “Listen Elmer Fudd she fuckin’ likes you, do you get that? Special shit right there to even find a friend in Natasha Romanoff. She’s been through a hell of a lot and there’s only been a handful of times I’ve ever seen her throw herself into a death trap out of pure upset. She doesn’t hide it as well as she thinks she does, trust me.” The blond uttered in a harsh tone, refusing to back away from Daryl at all but he didn’t step away either though he could see his words were processing. “She’s gonna kill herself out there and I sure as hell can’t stop her. That’s up to you to bring her back. She’s not with another group; she’s on her own tryin’ to clean sweep one locale and knowing her she won’t just stop and come back. She’ll wear herself down walking all of Georgia if she’s gotta until you step up. It’s dumb on her part but… it’s Natasha, she’s reaching out to you in her own fucked up way.”

“So if you give a shit about her… you need to go get her before it’s just a body.” Clint finished finally, watching the man’s blue gaze as he processed what he told him. Daryl finally moved away, saying nothing to the other and adjusting his knife on his hip before taking off down the hall towards the exit and the blond man knew it clicked.

 

Natasha knew the group was planning on making their break for the train tracks mid-morning, which gave her a good couple solid hours to put as many slavering geeks down as she could find.

And find them she did. The redhead had been mowing through the veritable herd she'd sought out, calling out sharply to them to lead them away from the designated path the refugees were going to take heading deeper into a run down section of Savannah. She left piles of the things in her wake, getting spattered with rot and covered in dust, but still she didn't let up. One of the things that truly brought home to her that she was a monster and not the good woman deep down that her partner stubbornly insisted she was, this was cathartic for her. In this arena, she was in control, she was peerless, she was ruin and violence personified.

Out here, she was just another dead thing that walked. Natasha had spent so many years denying her heart, killing her emotions and then she had met Barton and been through the worst pain of her life allowing him to dredge up feeling in her once more. And now she was paying the price yet again, feeling. She hated it. Hated how weak it had made her, how quickly it had made her blind to reality. Far better that she remain where she belonged, in the mindset she belonged: cold, merciless and murderous.

It was far easier to tell herself this was the right place for her, clearing a path for those that still had a chance at living, really living, sharing their lives and hearts with one another. Easier than admitting that she knew what that felt like now, to open herself up to someone and then come to realize it had all been a farce. How could she have believed that she could set aside years of darkness after just a couple days in the light? The fact that she had come to care in so short a time only made her angrier, made her aim truer and her blows harder as she took down biter after biter.

Natasha led her mob of walkers down a narrow street, springing up onto the roof of an abandoned sedan and thrusting her sharpened rebar down into the heads of her mindless pursuers. She could feel her muscles burning, her breathing getting strained from exertion especially running on almost no sleep and a couple sips of water. But that didn't matter to her one bit. She would kill as many walkers as possible until she couldn't fight any more, she had told herself her plan was to reserve enough strength to get herself back to the group but in her current state it was easy to listen to the voice in the back of her head that had haunted her for years, telling her that Clint and anyone else foolish enough to give even the slightest damn about her was better off with her gone anyhow.

The redhead heard activity behind her and looked back to see a new wave coming at her from the other end of the street, drawn by the commotion of her fighting her friends around the car. They were rocking the vehicle violently but she maintained perfect balance, dispatching a few more geeks before vaulting off the car and running back towards the new group. It was vital that she keep this fresh wave from heading back towards the marked path for the refugees, and she fought her way through the left flank of the mass of walkers to head back the other direction.

She was wearing out, getting a little less precise now but the spy still had plenty of fight left in her and she wasn't even the tiniest bit afraid of the horde of undead stalking her. Worst case they took her down, but she'd put her steel spike through her head herself before she ever allowed herself to become one of these reanimated lurkers. It was simple: Kill or be killed. That's all she was really suited for, in the end. She could only hope Clint would forgive her for not coming back but Natasha was fairly certain he understood she wasn't really planning on rejoining the group. A fleeting thought of her tracker crossed her mind as she took out yet another walker, and she wondered if he'd give a second thought to her being dead and gone. Likely not. But then again, wasn't it better that way?

Daryl took off like a shot down the path he knew instantly that she would take, managing to clear out what very very few that his girl had missed. His? He shook his head at the thought, running up the dust covered road through a line of buildings and weaving his way towards where he knew the tracks were. Natasha would follow them or at least follow over to them to keep the area closest clear and safe for the others but Clint’s words rung in his ears, telling him that she wasn’t doing this just for them she was doing it because she didn’t know what else to do.

It was a good mile or maybe two before he found more geeks, truly dead geeks as it were, indicating what direction she had run to. He followed the trail she left behind, ensuring to look for any signs that she might be hurt, checking each body he could quickly in search of red hair like hers just in case she dropped, was torn up and left there and her trail ended in something gruesome. So far he caught nothing, pleased to see the work she had done only because it meant she was still breathing.

Soon enough he caught sight of her or rather of a group of walkers trudging towards one edge of the road. He raised his crossbow and shot at a couple strays moving their way to the rapidly growing clan of them. He side stepped and whistled but it did little to nothing when they already had nearly cornered fresh meat against the side of a rundown sedan. “’Ey!” He shouted but again only a few of the furthest out biters drew their attention to him. He fired a shot at each one, leaving the bolts in their place of each skull until later on when it was safer to extract them or should he need the extra round.

He tugged an arrow from his quiver and rather than loading it up he put his bow around his back and used the sharp end of the stick to drive through a geeks eye socket, getting close to Natasha. He was pleased to see her alive, not so happy to watch her having to fight so stupidly on her own. Seeing her getting swarmed like she was became an incentive for him, encouragement and it made him forget that he was in danger just the same. A walker grabbed his arm but he ignored it all together, taking his knife from his hip and using it to drive it into another enemy’s skull, elbowing the one that gripped him in the process and it stumbled, scrambling to grab his feet but he stomped his boot straight into it without any hesitation.

Seeing him seemed to only piss her off, to get her going and she leapt back up onto the top of the car, darting over the hood and rushing through the other pack, leaving Daryl to fend for himself in the other mess. He wasn’t sure how to take that, if she was running from him or trusted he could clear the last dozen or so that were around him on his own while she worked on taking down the others. He grunted and groaned, driving his knife through one after the other, taking a pipe from his opposite side and using it as another form of taking them out. He shoved the pipe harshly up through the chin of the final snarling walker, letting it drop as he withdrew the weapon and sure enough Natasha had already cleared her herd and tore off elsewhere without him.

He started around the edge of the sedan and headed to another car, searching for her with his crossbow in hand. “Lucy, I’m home!!” He yelled at the top of his lungs in his usual rough voice, figuring the sound would call others to him but he also assumed it would draw her back. Not long after she was standing behind him, her hip cocked to one side and he could feel her eyes on his back, making him turn when she asked if he was stupid or trying to kill himself like a coward. “Funny I was wonderin’ the same thing ‘bout you.” He answered in not much quieter of a voice, getting irate with her behavior.

She darted towards him and threatened him in a language he didn’t know, the same one she kept using that he liked… oddly enough. Still he knew it was a threat based on her harsh tone she took, shoving at his chest until he reached another car. He got an idea and slammed his fist against the car, taking a shot and the alarm on it sounded, echoing in their space and it was like a dinner bell to whatever lingered around them. He simply smiled when it only made her angrier, “Either you kill me or they do. Ain’t gonna matter is it? You wanna go out on a suicide mission for no fuckin’ reason then sure as shit I’m goin’ down with yah.” She demanded he turn it off, asking if he was insane and he shrugged, “Never been tested before.”

Natasha looked to the point of near panic now as he stared down at her, refusing to move. He simply watched her rush around him, slam her pipe into the window and break it, popping open the door from the inside climbing under the steering wheel and prying it open while he leaned against the hood and waited. “All that paramilitary trainin’ and shit, hope y’know how t’ cut the system!” He called, seeing her through the dusty front window. It took her little under a minute to do what he was semi hoping she might have needed his help for, yanking the wire from its place and getting up, rushing at him again and shoving the red wire into his chest calling him every name she could think of off the top of her head.

The tracker shot his hand out before she could pass and gripped her tight, forcing her back to him and against the car, boxing her in and staring her down. “Why’d yah do that? You wanna die anyhow, don’t yah?” He questioned, sounding like an angry bull with the way he was breathing heavily out of frustration and adrenaline. “What about me huh?! What. About. ME?!” He demanded, jamming his finger into his own chest and exaggerating each word the second time around, his weight shifting awkwardly from foot to foot and he pulled away from her, taking off down the road towards the new oncoming walkers that were close enough to follow the sound of the car alarm going off previously. "I ain't lettin' you give up! I ain't losin' a-fuckin'-nother person I give a shit about!" He yelled while he got to work on the 'fresh' line of kill.

"Let's get it done 'cuz I'm takin' your ass back if I gotta fuckin' carry you, Luc!" He kept shouting, grunting as he fought and seeing her stare at him from across the way when he whirled around and took down a walker directly behind him with ease.

Natasha's winter blue eyes went owlish with shock, Daryl's bordering on insane actions were a jolt to her system like a bucket of ice water hitting her. But like he said, was what he was doing right now any crazier than her own actions had been? Only she felt she had a good reason for them, a justification. He had things to live for, someone to live for... 

And yet, the desperate way he'd asked her to consider him and how her course of action affected him, the adamant way he proclaimed he wasn't going to give up on her, did it mean the impossible? Did it mean what her battered and rarely used heart wanted it to? He was here, he'd come after her, if not to save her than at least to go down fighting at her side. That had to mean something, didn't it?

She was too pumped full of adrenaline and shock right now to really think about anything more complicated than simply cutting down the next walker in front of her, but Natasha did know for sure that all the rage and futility she'd been feeling all had to be shoved aside for the moment so she could keep her crazy ass tracker alive. He had to make it out of this, and even if she couldn't admit it, now that he was here with her she wanted to make it out of this as well. Wanted a chance to get a straight answer from him about why he'd come after her, and if nothing else to make him eat his words about carrying her back.

The pair fought their way through the thickest part of the mob, going on a whim and a prayer that neither of them would get a bite taken out of them as they forced and beat their way through the growling, stinking crowd of undead. Natasha called out to Daryl over the cacophony, signaling around the pharmacy on the corner of the block. 

"Two streets that way! There's supposed to be an abandoned construction site with a foundation dug out for a high rise!" She yelled, thinking their best bet now that the goal was in fact to get out of this alive was to lead the geeks there and start dumping them in a hole they couldn't get out of. It was the only way, no matter how good of fighters Natasha and Daryl were combined, there were simply too many biters for them on their finite strength to handle.

Daryl nodded, grunting with anger and effort as he threw back a walker that got too close to him, working his way closer to her and the pair fought like they had done this song and dance a thousand times before, playing off each other's cues and covering each other perfectly.

Natasha led the way and sure enough just like on the map she'd memorized, there was a lonely construction site with a huge deep hole just waiting for them to fill it up with slavering walkers. The pair ran right up to the edge, hollering and waving their weapons aggravating the monsters getting them to come at them with all the voraciousness they could muster. 

The redhead hollered every curse she could think of, so high on her adrenaline now that she almost didn't care if she made it out of this or not, hell if a walker didn't get her a cardiac episode might. The swarm met them, many of the geeks careening right over the edge before even getting close to either of their more living targets, piling up over each other and falling into a writhing mass. The tracker and the spy skirted the perimeter of the pit, flinging walkers in as they came and staying just the right distance apart to give each other cover without getting in the other's way.

Natasha yelled out a very unflattering Russian curse at a geek as she pitched him over into the pit, looking over at Daryl and watching him hoot and holler just as she was. Their eyes met and the redhead couldn't stop the triumphant crow of laughter that burst out of her, this was working, the two of them together were just crazy enough to use this method and here they were eliminating scores of the threats stacked against the group of refugees. 

But to Natasha it wasn't really even about that anymore. If she could've chosen a way to bid this shitty world good night, she could hardly think of anything better than this. Daryl had come to find her, he was fighting at her side and even if she didn't really understand why all that mattered to her was that he was here, at the end of all things. That was what she really wanted.

Daryl grunted and hollered none too clean things each time that he yanked a walker down, stabbed one in one swing, knocked one into the pit. He cursed and fought and when he heard Natasha laughing he couldn’t help but grin himself and get a little more into it with her at his side. There was still a ways to go but at least if they went down here and now she was there and he had come to find her, to fight with her and die together rather than alone. Neither of them simply giving up, at least they would clear out the area for the rest of the refugees to have an easy path to safety without needing to fight on their own.

They took to their task like it was nothing, like it was a mere sport or game they were playing, like nothing else mattered except ‘winning’ and winning mean clearing out the others. “Slowin’ down? Gettin’ tired?” He teased from across the way, pursing his lips and letting out a sharp whistle, starting up kissy sounds to call the walkers to him. Natasha called back she was doing just fine, asking him the same questions in turn. “Fuckin’ kiddin’? Could do this all damn day.”

Slowly but surely they cleared the large group, hearing a good bit of them still snarling down in the pit but it was deep enough that there was no way in hell they could crawl back out even tormented with fresh meat above them. He panted heavily, adjusting his crossbow so it lay in his arms again and raising it up, spotting a stray just off the edge of another building and firing straight for its skull while Natasha covered him. They raced down the alley like two teens who just got away with petty theft or sneaking out of the house after almost being caught, Natasha was still laughing beside herself and when their pace slowed he stared at her.

Daryl darted forward and shoved at her hips until she collided with the wall behind her and while they were covered in dirt and blood, some their own and some… not quite, he didn’t care, not one bit. His heart was pounding, almost certain she could hear it or maybe he was hearing hers as her chest heaved from trying to catch her breath and now likely from him pinning her to the concrete building. His bow hung in his free hand while the other gripped at her frame, ducking his head down, his lips crashing into hers, making her moan into his mouth.

They stayed entangled together until the familiar sound of an intruder drew closer and they tore away from each other. She gripped his shirt and pulled him to another place, searching for a door of some sort that they could escape to as steadily, the echo of only their heavy breathing and the sounds of other hungry walkers in the hole in the ground, drew more from within the city and towards them. She tested the handle but it didn’t budge. “Move.” He instructed in a husky tone, his voice still rough with his want to have her again even in this state. Maybe they would die this way.

He stepped back and raised one leg up, catching the door right along its lock and kicking it in, the wood frame cracked from the inside but it wasn’t enough damage that they wouldn’t be safe inside or at least he hoped. The tracker pushed her inside and closed the door, blockading it as best he could with what he could find. Light was still coming in through the small windows, just enough to look around the receptionist type space, a lobby or waiting room. Could have been an old doctor’s office at one point but it looked like it had been shut down even before the apocalypse. The place was cleared of a lot of things, what was left over was organized and instantly they both took to checking the place out, making sure they were truly alone.

Daryl padded out from one of the few exam rooms, finding Natasha in another, the light far brighter in the second floor of the building and in the exam rooms, the windows were bigger, more open likely to keep patients comfortable. It wasn’t the prettiest sight out there anymore but not much was nice in this world anyhow. “Clear.” He told her, getting her single word confirmation on her end too but her voice wavered, the want in her tone was driving him crazy in and of itself. He put his weapon down instantly and they both moved towards each other, her gripping his jeans and yanking him with her to press up against the closed door and him pushing at her to do just the same.

 

Natasha was running on pure adrenaline, her mind and body in a tumult that had her strung so tight she thought she might snap like an overdrawn bowstring. She barely had the presence of mind to clear both upstairs exam rooms in the small private practice doctor's office they'd ducked into, looking down through the sunny window at the street below and watching with some satisfaction as geeks slowly lurched their way towards the commotion they had caused at the construction site to plummet to their doom in turn. Dispatching and/or trapping over a hundred walkers in one fight... That had to be some kind of record.

The tracker strode into the exam room, his eyes wild and his chest heaving from exertion just like hers was. "All clear." She responded breathlessly to his one word indication that at least for the moment they were safe. All that mattered to her right now was this moment in time, all she could think about was having him and reaffirming that they had really just come out of that hell on the other side, together. It didn't matter that they were filthy, torn up, and still in very real danger, there was no past, no future, only right now. In the next heart beat she was yanking him to her and he was slamming her against the door, his mouth hungry and rough on hers once again.

Natasha's head bumped back against the door as she hopped up to wrap her legs around his waist, clawing at his shoulders to keep her grip and gasping as he followed her cues seamlessly, holding her up and grinding his straining bulge against her center. Their sweaty brows pressed together and his sharp narrow gaze caught and trapped hers, the want in his eyes making her heart feel like it was going to pound out of her chest.

Their mouths crashed together again and she knew her lips were going to be bruised from the rough contact but she hardly cared, drinking him in and losing herself in his taste and touch and canting her hips to his moaning loudly as her pleasure built from the friction between them even still fully clothed.

The archer pulled her away from the door, swinging their bodies around and setting her down on the vinyl cushioned exam table, the white paper still covering it crinkling as she shifted atop it, lifting her arms for him to yank her sweaty, dirty top off and panting desperately as he leaned in to bite and suck at her throat down to her cleavage while her hands worked on unfastening his jeans.

Daryl growled low in his chest as she freed his length, pumping him firmly and swirling the precum seeping from his slit around his tip with her thumb and making him curse roughly. Natasha gripped the back of his neck, drawing him down to lean over top of her on the table, lifting her hips so he could tug her jeans off.

"Oh fuck! Yes, yes!" Natasha yelled as the hunter abruptly entered her, clawing at his shoulders to keep him close as he tugged her legs high up his waist and began pounding into her relentlessly. Daryl kept his feet firmly planted on the floor, making the whole exam table shake from the force he was taking her with, holding her in his strong arms gripping her tight enough to leave fingerprint bruises on her shoulders and neck but again she hardly cared.

Natasha bucked her hips up in time with his motions, her head lolling back and her eyes rolling up in her head as she was overtaken by her pleasure, feeling her orgasm unfurl low in her belly and wash over her whole being from head to toe. "Oh god, you feel so good, I can't stop coming! Ahh!" Natasha cried in broken Russian, falling back into her native tongue with most of her higher brain functions switched off at the moment. Daryl didn't seem to mind in fact he seemed to understand her meaning perfectly, groaning her name desperately and thrusting into her slick heat even faster till both his and her thighs were soaked with her juices and she came hard around him all over again.

Natasha's back bowed off the table, the now crumpled and torn paper sticking to her dewy skin and she screamed in ecstasy, not caring or really even realizing her volume was completely out of control. If this was to be the end of them, she would have no regrets whatsoever, especially when Daryl's body tensed up and he came deep inside her, intensifying the last wave of her climax and riding out both their peaks till he was utterly spent.

Daryl panted and groaned as he slammed into her tight heat, stretching her body and filling her up. He braced her frame tight against his own, forcing her down against him in the same rhythm of his own movements. Her harsh exclamations drove him up, encouraged him to stick to his rough pace and he wasn’t so sure that even if she told him to slow down or stop that he could this time. Not that she would ask. He cursed lightly under his ragged breathing at first, hitting that sweet spot deep inside her body and gripping her body tight enough to mark but he refused to let up.

He pushed into her relentlessly, his pace never letting up as he moaned her name in a desperate tone, feeling her clamp around him, drawing him into her body with each motion of their hips. Her slickness soaked both of their thighs, making crude sounds that he found increasingly erotic at least to his own ears. Natasha arched up off the table and he cradled her weight quite easily in his arms as she screamed for him, making him lose all hold on what little self-control he had left. The tracker’s muscles clenched up as he followed her over the edge, coming deep inside her body but refusing to let up until her body milked him dry, her walls still fluttering around him as he rode out their shared climax within her.

He lingered with her hovering in his arms above the exam table, his free hand not braced against her back, dropping down to keep himself steady on his feet with his palm pressed into the grey cushions that were dewy with sweat and sticky from their activities. He breathed heavily against her skin, taking a second or two to gather himself and thinking nothing about how eager they had both gotten to simply have each other even if it meant one last time. He slipped from her heat and eased her down onto the torn up paper meant to keep the table sterilized for each patient.

The tracker pulled away just slightly, his hands tracing over her thighs when he released her mostly, his hooded blue eyes catching sight of the finger shaped bruises that he left behind in her flesh. He kissed at the ones near hear neck and shoulders, tracing the others around her firm thigh and unable to help the little smirk playing on his lips. His lips traveled over the mark up to her jawline and over her lips, kissing her slow and deep and keeping her naked body drawn against him for a moment or two longer.

She tensed up suddenly, pulling away from him and breaking the contact, wiping her mouth like he tasted bad or… she looked a little guilty in fact. Daryl didn’t fight her, watching her hand push hesitantly at his hip so she could get up and grab her clothes, her cheeks flushing pink when he asked her what was wrong. “We weren’t that loud, Luce. Sure it’s fine.” He muttered before she could answer him completely. He started to open his mouth again but she cut him off with a harsh turn and an insistent wave of her hand, pushing at his chest when he got near without clothes on to cover up.

“What’s your problem?” He repeated, his brow coming together in curiosity and a bit of frustration considering he had just stuck his neck out for her and laid his ass on the line to get her to fight just as earnestly. She said one simple thing or rather a name, Beth and he ran his fingers through his long dark hair, listening to her speak about how wrong this was, how she shouldn’t have let him do that again when he was committed to someone, how normally she didn’t care but… this time was different… with him it was different. He knew she meant it was because she liked him, more than she wanted to admit so if she assumed him cheating with her, her being the other woman it was wearing on her mentally.

He shook his head, stepping forward again and taking her hands before she could do much else. Her eyes were watering as he kissed her fingers, taking a moment to answer while his opposite hand let his fingers ghost up and down the hollow of her side. “I love her… Beth.” Daryl admitted, feeling her tense up again but he gripped her fingers tighter and kissed at each digit softly, working his way to the back of her hand then her palm. His opposite hand reached up to the charm around her neck, brushing over it softly. “Like you love Clint. I ain’t in love with her and she ain’t in love with me. She saved my ass too, y’know? She’s eighteen, ain’t got no family, spent the last two years killing walkers, not learnin’ to drive, goin’ to school dances, walkin’ the line at graduation…” He muttered in a light tone.

“Blondie needs me and I gotta watch out for her. She’s all that’s left from the Prison group that I know of…” Daryl’s voice wavered a little but he kept kissing at Natasha’s soft skin, intoxicated by her quite easily. “But you’re my girl, Luce.” He continued, kissing her shoulder before lifting his head to rest his forehead to hers, his hand gripping the side of her face to keep her there and lock gazes together, driving his words in with a stare. “My moon.”

 

Natasha's heart was beating on a frequency she didn't think possible without going into cardiac arrest, though with how breathless and dizzy she felt maybe she in fact was having a heart attack. His gentle touch and voice filled with certainty kept her tethered to the earth when she felt like she might sail right off of it. A hesitant smile tugged at her lips and her blue eyes threatened to well over with tears as his words sank in.

"Daryl, I..." Natasha breathed, blinking rapidly, stepping into his space pressing her almost completely bare form up against him and raising herself up on the balls of her feet so their faces were just a whisper apart. "I'm glad you found me, my Raven. I'm sorry for lingering out of your reach. It won't happen again." She promised, feeling her heart flip over in her chest as she uttered the closest words to 'I love you' she'd ever spoken.

A quiet little smile warmed the tracker's rugged features, he stood perfectly still as she craned her head up to kiss his scruffy jaw, then the corner of his mouth, then sealed her lips fully to his. He returned her kiss, the contact far more tender but no less passionate than their kisses moments ago. Natasha wound her fingers into his long dark hair, pressing her body flush against his and humming into each deep kiss they shared. His hands swept up and down her figure, clutching her close and stirring her banked desire up into a burning flame once more.

Her hands slipped down his neck and under the collar of his tattered sleeveless shirt, working the buttons open and pushing the garment off his bruised and battered frame. Daryl didn't resist, didn't even tense up when she draped her arms around his broad shoulders, splaying her hands over his marred back. The feeling of their bare flesh pressed together was heavenly, the dirt and sweat from their fighting didn't make either of them bat an eye if anything Natasha savored the fact that they had earned these marks and grit protecting each other.

Daryl reached behind her back and unclasped the last stitch of clothing on her body, tugging her bra off and palming her full breasts, making her moan and lean into his touch. She shucked his tattered jeans and boxers completely off, walking with him when he stepped backwards out of them and drew her back to the exam table. 

He swept his arm back tearing the torn up paper off the cushion and sitting up on the table, easily lifting her slight weight up and Natasha mewled as her still sensitive bare sex slid against his as she straddled him. He was already growing for her again and the redhead cupped his corded neck, kissing him hungrily as she ground down on his length getting him hard as steel for her once more. Daryl's hands swept up and down her body, touching her all over as if he thought she might fade away if he didn't make contact with every inch of her.

They broke apart to share a ragged breath, locking eyes and Natasha couldn't help the giddy little giggle that bubbled up out of her at the blissful feeling of being in her Tracker's arms like this. No matter what else happened in the ugly world out there beyond this room, she'd always have this moment, always remember how being skin to skin like this with Daryl felt like coming home.

Natasha's face was flushed and her whole body tingling as she stimulated her clit along his hard thick length, the way he was watching her making her tremble and forget to breathe. He was thrusting up into her movements, panting roughly but letting her set the pace.

Natasha rose up just enough to press his tip between her dripping wet folds, biting her full lower lip as she slowly sank down onto him, relishing the deep groan Daryl uttered as her heat enveloped him.

Daryl sat back on the exam table bare, easily picking her up off the floor and guiding her into his lap. She followed his lead without question, moaning as she started to grind down against his growing arousal. They kissed like they had before, slow, deep and intimate, tasting every corner of her mouth like this might be the last time because it very well could be. Their kiss turned into something far hungrier and needy, her pace against him increasing and making him growl with his want.

His hands traced over her entire form wherever he could possibly reach, letting her set the pace for the most part as they broke away for air. His eyes locked on her own, never tearing his gaze away while she worked them up once more for each other. He groaned roughly in his throat, watching her bite her lower lip in his peripherals as she rocked up onto her knees just enough to shift her hips and bury him inside her body completely.

He gripped her hip with one hand, guiding her up his length and adjusting their position so he could take her a little deeper, groaning roughly at the difference. Natasha tucked her red locks behind her ears, keeping her bang swept from her eyes so she could see him and he was certain it was the first time that she stared him down just as intently as he normally did for her. She slid up and down his shaft, pulling almost completely off of him and bracing her hands against his shoulders and back, her nails lightly scraping over his skin and he didn’t even flinch, appreciating the way she avoided harsh contact with his marred skin.

He thrust up into her heat, kissing at her lips and tipping back until he was lying across the length of the exam table, bracing his feet on the added little stool sticking out from the foot end and pushing up into her in time with her steady motions. The redhead mewled into his mouth, muttering his name and spotty affectionate terms in another language each time she pulled up for air. The tracker grinned up at his lover, trailing his hands from around her thighs back to her ass then slowly working up to her chest, teasing her sensitive peaks with his rough fingers and heightening her pleasure.

His mouth found her opposite breast, closing around her nipple and working it with his tongue and teeth. She tightened around him, her walls fluttering against his length and making him gasp against her skin as she rode him harder to get herself where she wanted. He sighed her name once more, pressing their foreheads together and watching her come undone in the same moment that he did, filling her up and heightening her pleasure making her shake above him. She rode out their highs until she couldn’t anymore, slumping forward along his chest and nuzzling into him as she pulled off his body.

Daryl panted against her neck, pressing feather light kisses to her dewy skin while they rested together. They laid there for a moment or two to catch their breath, absently touching and kissing until they managed to gather themselves again. His head arched back to look out the window, seeing the roads below nearly clear minus the hole just a couple spaces over, filled with snarling walkers, dead and undead. “We should get a move on, Luce. See if we can get outta here.” He whispered, sitting up and she followed his lead, climbing up and off of him to get their clothes. “If we’re lucky might run into the crowd of survivors with Barton.” He muttered,

His mind wandered and he realized something that might rang as important especially in this world today. His sharp blue eyes shot over to her as she fastened her jeans after cleaning herself up as best she could in here. "You know I didn't..." He started, shifting a little awkwardly from foot to foot and she glanced up at him. "Didn't even think 'bout it this time. Should we... y'know check the place for uhh-- somethin'?" He offered.

Natasha was still feeling a little giddy from their shared high and the revelation that the tracker actually did care for her enough to risk his life for her, so she couldn't help but giggle a bit at the tracker's uncomfortable line of speech. She reached out to snatch his outstretched hand and stepped closer, still shirtless but her earlier discomfort was totally gone.

"No, no it's fine." She assured him, smirking and leaning up to kiss his lips softly when he met her answer with a skeptical look. "Really. I can't have children, I was... Damaged. A long time ago." She didn't offer any details, trying to keep the shadows out of her eyes when she spoke but not quite succeeding. Her time in the Red Room had left her with mental, emotional and physical scars, some of them faded but a few would mark her indelibly for the rest of her days and this was one of them.

Daryl's features softened a bit with sympathy and he reached up to cup her face, murmuring that he was sorry and she shook her head, pressing their mouths together again to silence him. "Don't. You had no way of knowing." She comforted him, stepping back to tug her bra and shirt back on. After a few moments the archer chuckled and commented that she could've mentioned that a ways back, made things a little easier and she laughed lightly in response.

"Well. I could have mentioned it, but then I wouldn't have gotten to see what kind of man you are." She teased, bending over in an exaggerated fashion to pick her knife back up off the floor and strap it back to the back of her jeans. They got themselves put back together and headed out of the doctor office, moving like silent shadows through the abandoned city back towards the designated route Clint and the refugees were going to take.

The pair expected to have to spend quite awhile catching up with the group, they should've been well on their way by now. But when they finally came to the street that was clear to the train depot, Natasha and Daryl were shocked to see that the band of refugees had hardly made any progress whatsoever.

Natasha's heart clenched and she ran across the remaining space to her partner, catching his arm and whispering in an alarmed tone in Russian so as not to tip off any of the innocents around them, "Barton, is this all the faster this group can move? There's no way we'll make it at this pace, I thought-" Natasha was cut off by her partner breaking in and insisting that their progress wasn't slow they just simply hadn't left at the appointed time.

The redhead's features went from concerned to confused. "What? Why not? Was there some kind of problem?" She sputtered in English this time, looking over her shoulder as her tracker came to stand next to her and get an explanation from Barton himself.

Clint glanced up at his partner who had just joined him at his side, giving a little smirk almost immdiately at the sight of her. He knew, he wasn’t dumb, Daryl was a tracker and a hunter it was his life pretty much it wouldn’t have taken him half that time to find her. They made a few pit stops and he figured he could guess why that was.

“Our pace isn’t slow. We just didn’t get to leave on time like we wanted to.” He answered, his silver gaze flickering over to her and continuing on to Daryl who joined at her side, wondering likely the same things she was. “Well for one my foot is a bit of an issue, I can only move so fast in case you forgot all about that.” He quipped, limping forward to keep walking with the others and stick to the same steady pace.

“Plus a couple people fell behind.” He stated, looking at Daryl who was walking a pace or two ahead of him while Natasha took to Clint’s side. She asked what he meant, tracking her eyes over the others to do a quick head count in her mind, seeming to take him literally on that part that maybe some people had got left at the building. She grabbed him and demanded they go back, saying that Clint Barton wasn’t the type to do something like that, to leave people no matter what happened. “Oh well this wasn’t my choice.” He shrugged.

The archer winced almost everytime he put weight on his bum foot and she grabbed him to get him to explain himself to her, asking if these people had opted for staying there. “No we’re all here. I meant you guys havin’ to take a little break for… oh an added hour or so.” He replied, smirking at them both as he fixed his bow around his shoulder, catching her confused stare and almost begging with her eyes eventually for him not to say anything in regards to what he thought they might have been doing.

He laughed heartily, shaking his head, “Brian owes me his rations.” He commented, “I knew you two were fuckin’.” The blond said trumphantly, chuckling when she tried to argue that he was totally off base, that they got caught in a swarm again and again. “Oh I’m sure you guys got caught… not in a fuckin’ swarm but I’m willin’ to bet all or nothin’ Daryl got trapped by… something or other.” He teased, wriggling his brow at them both.

“I’m not dumb Natasha. I keep tellin’ you that. I call ‘em like I see ‘em and Oscar here’s not so grumpy, any man who got some hot action would change his face. And well quite frankly, Nat your hair is a tangle mess, not to mention the little bruising on your neck there.” He indicated to where a fingerprint of Daryl’s poked out beneath her v-neck tee. “You don’t have to be a super spy to know you guys reek of hot and dirty sex.”

"We could only wait so long though, y'know? Guys started gettin' restless and I thought you were keepin' it on the down low but you come back lookin' like that, pretty sure we all know what's up." Clint smirked, rather pleased with himself.

Natasha self-consciously ran a hand through her tangled fiery locks, managing to keep the worst of her blush at bay though she felt a little silly thinking she could hide anything from her partner in the first place.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Natasha chided the blond archer in a teasing tone, calling him a crazy man in Russian and earning a pleased chuckle from him. She didn't directly admit he was right but she couldn't wipe the slight smile off her face nonetheless so she figured her partner had all the confirmation he needed. But for the first time likely in her entire life, Natasha found she didn't mind too much if an emotion she was feeling was close to the surface where others might possibly see it.

She watched Daryl work his way around a few people in the crowd, finding who he was looking for. Beth looked happy and relieved to see him alive and well. Natasha smirked when the tracker bent a bit awkwardly as he walked so the much shorter blonde could throw her arm around him, and Clint asked her if she was 'going to stand for another woman hanging all over her man' like that.

Natasha rolled her eyes at her partner knowing he was just trying to get a rise out of her, taking his arm and helping to support some of his weight as they shuffled along since it was obvious he was struggling.

"You're the last person I want to hear talking about if I'm going to stand for something when you can hardly stand yourself Cupid." Natasha replied, matching her gait to his and they started moving more smoothly now that she was taking some of his burden. That had always been her job, to lift the weight that she could off of Clint's shoulders.

The group made their way to the train depot, Clint's clearing out project letting them pass through the city without coming across a single walker. Daryl spent the morning walking with Beth and Natasha kept at her partner's side, only now when the redhead watched the young blonde linking her arm with the tracker's it didn't bother her in the least. Now her chief concern was what it should be, getting her injured partner and all these people to safety.

They made it to the tracks and did a last check of all their supplies, then started walking down the tracks towards the shield base further north. Now they were more cautious, leaving the more relative safety of the cleared out path through the city to the open where it was impossible to anticipate how many enemies they might come across and when. Still the risk had to be taken, their best bet for long term survival was reaching the base.

Clint assigned members of the group to spread out on all sides of the main body of travelers, either scouting ahead or covering their backs. Natasha could see how much her partner was suffering even if the rest of these people couldn't, but she held her peace knowing he was far too stubborn to slow the group down.

The blond archer asked her if she thought her boyfriend would mind adding himself to the scouting rotation and she made an annoyed noise in her throat at him. "He's not my boyfriend, I don't have boyfriends. I'm sure he wouldn't mind putting his skills to use though. Just ask him." Natasha responded, her delicate brows furrowing when Clint answered with another question, if Daryl wasn't her boyfriend than what exactly was he? She wasn't really sure how to respond to that, not wanting to resort to such childish things like labels but at the same time her tracker meant the world to her... What was she supposed to do with that information? She went deeper into thought and Clint seemed content to let her mull over it for now.

The group continued to travel until close to sundown, moving off the tracks out of the open to make a camp for the night. they set up three little fires for people to face outward from, with a big enough empty space in the middle of the fires for the oldest and youngest to sleep in so they at least had the slightest measure of protection should they be set upon in the night.

Natasha was helping get everyone settled in and a small meal going for the travelers, noting with satisfaction that Daryl had fallen in seamlessly, helping the others Clint had assigned to get at least something of a secure perimeter going.

 

Clint hated not be much assistance while Natasha was around to watch, she didn’t really allow him to do quite as much as he would have before she arrived but she insisted he mostly sit still with the way that his foot was. He propped his foot up on his pack like she instructed him to, watching the rest of his team and appreciating the way that Daryl was taking well to accepting orders and pulling his weight, not that he expected any less from a man who ran with Natasha Romanoff and… well lived.

A good amount of their people, most of the youngest and oldest parts of the crowd took to lying out on the campgrounds, enjoying the opportunity to rest and find warmth against the fires while they could after their long day of travel. Daryl paced the perimeter, crossbow in hand, walking a path he had started to drive in himself purposefully with the heels of his shoes. He drew a line, more for himself to know the edge of safety, how far people could wander, clearing a path just the same to allow people back to their make shift open restroom.

“What’s he doing?” Clint questioned, seeing Daryl hang up wire from along one tree to the next and trying not to laugh as he saw him grab various objects to string from the line. Natasha smiled as she answered, telling him it was his own walker warning system, a wire with pans and other things that would clatter and make noise indicating they had an intruder before it could even make it to camp. “He knows we’ll be runnin’ watch shifts right?” He laughed, shaking his head at her choice in a man but he supposed the man being overly cautious was better than him being oblivious.

The redhead shrugged, telling him to leave her tracker alone because it put his mind at ease and was more or less a comforting ritual for him than anything else. The archer nodded slowly in understanding, meeting her blue gaze and offering a smile, “I’m not sayin’ I like him yet but anybody that can actually urge a smile from Natasha Romanoff… is alright by me. Alright enough to take first watch.” He quipped, grinning at her and lying back further to look up at the sky, hearing her scoff at him and claim now he was just picking on him. “Yep. Night.” He answered simply, closing his eyes and eventually she got up and left his side.

Daryl stepped back to camp, most of the group was out for the evening having gone as long as they had and he himself was feeling the wear of the day more so now than before. He wanted sleep, dropping down to sit near Beth who was yaking up at him from her spot on the ground, his jacket around her shoulders while she talked about nothing in particular, telling him yet again she was glad he found her again, that she got to see him again. She promised repeatedly that they would have a better life now, that Clint promised it to them and she believed in him enough to think they would find a home, all of them would start over, work together and rebuild just like they tried to do at the prison only this time it would last.

He sighed and reached his hand out to nudge his knuckles to her leg, “Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the mornin’.” The tracker offered, giving her a light smile in the darkness and she grinned back at him, reaching for his hand so she could lightly squeeze it in her own as she told him good night a final time. He nodded in response, leaning back against a thick tree, plucking a stick off the ground and pulling it to him, drawing his pocket knife and starting to carve off the bark of the branch he held, something to busy his hands for a while, help him relax.

Natasha silently stepped up to him, sitting down close against his side and distracting him from his task for a moment. He smiled, greeting her with a light ‘hey’ and she returned it, asking what he was doing. “Carvin’ more ammo. Weight’s a little off for a crossbow sometime but I ain’t the only archer now.” He muttered, seeing out of the corner of his eye, her leaning back against the tree, looking tired herself. “You should sleep too.”

The redhead glanced at him and shook her head, “Why?” He asked and she shrugged, saying she wanted to keep him company if he wasn’t planning on crashing any time soon. “Naw… This many people, I can’t rest my eyes. Ain’t nobody else gonna watch, nobody I trust more than me.” He mentioned, putting aside his tools and looking at her directly. They were quiet for a while, saying and doing nothing until he reached over and ran his hand over her thigh. She took the bait and lightly gripped at his hand in the darkness, the affections still private with no one else watching them, “You okay, Luce?” He asked, not really sure why but just needing to check. She nodded at him, claiming she was and wondering why he wanted to know but he shrugged in response. “Just makin’ sure.”

Natasha grinned crookedly in the dark, her features barely visible to him with the only light come from the small campfires flickering a little ways away. She brought her free hand over to lightly rest on their clasped ones, idly fidgeting with his fingers. Daryl scooted a little closer to her and she leaned naturally against his arm, relishing his warmth and letting his strong frame support most of her upper body weight.

The tracker chuckled lightly perhaps at her overt display of affection, though it was unlikely anyone in the group could make them out any longer in the darkness. But he didn't tense up like she almost feared he would, didn't pull away he simply took a deep breath and let his head tip back against the rough tree trunk they were propped against. Neither of them spoke a word but it was a comfortable silence and again Natasha found herself appreciating the fact that her tracker was a quiet soul like she was.

They sat quietly for a long while, there wasn't really a way to know if minutes or hours were passing but Natasha hadn't felt this relaxed for a long time despite the dangerous venture they were on so she didn't really care. "Are you asleep?" Natasha murmured just above a whisper, adjusting her head on his shoulder so she could just barely make out his profile in the night.

Daryl didn't form actual words but made a sort of grunting mutter in response that told him he wasn't quite asleep but he wasn't exactly alert either. She smirked, shifting against him and extracting her hand loosely clasping his to start steadily rubbing his muscled chest. The tracker sighed, enjoying the contact but his breathing started speeding up when her hand drifted down from massaging his shoulders and pectorals down over his abs to firmly rub his thighs each in turn.

She slowly slipped her hand over his growing bulge, gripping his bicep with her opposite hand when he started to shift and question her actions. "Shh..." Natasha hushed him, stretching up to bite and kiss at his neck, making him growl and to her satisfaction he stopped protesting her attentions. Her pressure and speed increased on his hardness, her own heart starting to race when his breathing hitched and a soft groan escaped him when she nibbled at his ear.

She deftly flicked his jeans open and slipped her hand beneath the layers of fabric between her and his length, pumping him from base to tip firmly, rubbing her thumb over his tip and making him thrust his hips up slightly into her hand. 

 

Daryl grunted out a response to Natasha, his head lolling to the side and he let out a heavy sigh, relaxing back and wanting to sleep but knowing he shouldn’t. He was nowhere near alert enough for watch at the moment. Natasha moved against him, pulling her head from his shoulder and he didn’t react, his arm on her leg slipping from hers. Her hand slid over his chest, rubbing at his muscles and down his abs, traveling further.

He stiffened, shifting beneath her touch and about to grab at her wrist to halt her, “What are you—“ He started to protest but she gripped his arm with her free hand and shushed him softly, arching over him to kiss and bite at his flesh. He groaned in his throat as she traced her palm up and down the growing bulge in his pants. His breathing picked up and she tugged open his jeans, gripping his length beneath the fabric and pumping him with her hand. His heart raced from his excitement mixed with knowing they could get stumbled upon anytime with the crowd of people fairly close by.

The tracker thrust up into her hand, his body twitched and his hands flexed at his sides, watching her eye him like she was and seemingly enjoying simply handling him like this. He cursed under his breath, her lips and teeth tracing over his neck and up to his ear, worrying the shell of it between her teeth. She worked him harder and faster, increasing her pace with every motion until he tensed and found his release, coming against his exposed abdomen as well as her hand.

Natasha was panting as she lifted her fingers from him, drawing up the heel of her palm to her lips and lapping up a good bit of his seed from her hand. He smirked, his eyes dark and pleased to see her seeming to enjoy his taste. He fixed his jeans, cleaning himself up a bit before reaching out and facing her more head on. “C’mere.” Daryl growled, leaning into her space and helping her out of her jeans, pushing them down enough that he had room to work. He pushed her shirt and bra down with one hand, revealing one ripe fruit to his hungry mouth.

His lips pressed to her nipple, soft and sweet at first, kissing and sucking at her flesh and she arched against him. His large hand slipped down her body and between her spread legs, caressing her through her soaked panties and making her mewl with want for more. As it would seem with the rate things were going between them, they could hardly last an evening without having each other in one form or another. He wanted nothing more than to pick her up, have all of her and make her scream like she had in the exam room but here wasn’t a place for that.

He pushed aside her panties, brushing her clit with the tips of his rough calloused fingers, making her gasp. Daryl latched onto her nipple, giving her attention to either breast as he dipped his fingers into her slick core and stroked her walls the way he knew she liked. He hooked his fingers inside her body and she cried out to him in little above a shaky whisper. “Shh.” His head rose to glance at her, kissing his way up her neck until he met her lips, pecking her lightly and speaking in a husky tone against her flesh. “Hate tellin’ you t’ be quiet but we gotta.” He murmured gently to her, his free hand cupping her face and drawing her gaze to meet his as he continued to work her body up to the point of breaking, feeling her inner most muscles flutter and clamp around his fingers, drawing them in deeper inside her body.

 

If Natasha hadn't been so caught up in how incredible her lover's hands and mouth were making her feel she might've laughed, since when had the Black Widow been reduced to not being able to control her volume while being with a man? It was different with Daryl though, because for the first time the redhead was actually putting herself entirely in someone else's hands, not simply using his body to get what she wanted at her own terms. 

Natasha sighed raggedly as he drove her to her peak, her body tensing up and shaking uncontrollably as her orgasm swept over her. Her grip on him tightened and she started to cry out, realizing she wasn't going to be able to control herself she dipped her head forward and sank her teeth into the tracker's shoulder, muffling her sounds as best she could as she unraveled.

Daryl growled but didn't let up on his ministrations, swirling his rough fingers around her clit and drawing out her pleasure till her body went limp against the tree trunk and she mewled softly when he lifted his hand from her mound and licked her sweetness from his digits much like she had done earlier. Natasha smiled and tangled her fingers into his dark hair and drew him in for a deep kiss.

They broke apart and Natasha quickly readjusted her skewed clothing, sitting back down against the tree trunk with her lover, her breathing still heavy from her pleasure. She glanced down at the mark she'd left on his arm and softly brushed her fingertips over it, leaning down to kiss the spot with far more tenderness than what she'd already done. "I'm sorry." She whispered, though honestly she really didn't have any regrets about leaving her mark on the tracker much like he'd done to her back in the city.

Daryl could see that she wasn't feeling apologetic in her heart but he didn't seem to mind one bit, brushing his knuckles over her cheek and shrugging his shoulders slightly. He told her he didn't mind, in fact he kind of liked it and his sly smirk made Natasha giggle lightly, yet another thing the redhead never did before she met this man.

"I'll... Keep that in mind." Natasha replied coyly, kissing his lips once more and leaning back to make herself as comfortable as possible against the tree. Daryl settle back again as well but couldn't seem to get comfortable, maybe now that he was more relaxed from their activities he was finding that actually getting comfortable for actual sleep was more difficult than simply reclining to keep watch.

Natasha silently watched him struggle for awhile and finally laughed softly, cupping the back of his neck with one hand and tugging at his tattered shirt with the other. "Come here." She prompted, pulling him down to settle with his head pillowed on her thigh. Daryl seemed a little apprehensive at first, asking her if she was going to be able to sleep and the redhead smiled down at him, "I'll be fine. I've slept in much worse conditions, believe me." She murmured, starting to sweep her fingers through his dark hair to soothe him.

It only took a few minutes for him to relax enough to fall asleep and Natasha kept up her gentle brushing through his hair all the rest of the night. The spy had been trained harshly to survive on minimal sleep, and to regain energy by simple meditation so that taking the risk of slumber was less needed. She got all the rest she needed for the day ahead simply watching her lover sleep, enjoying the peace in his expression as the sun rose and she was able to make out his features more clearly.

It was getting close to when the group would start getting going for the day's travel so Natasha gently shook her tracker's shoulder, murmuring his name to rouse him.

Daryl hadn’t slept like he did with Natasha that night in he didn’t know how long. He settled in quite comfortably against his lover’s leg, his hand lying up enough that their fingers could hook together. He was sleeping soundly, his breathing slow and deep when he heard the gentle sound of her voice urging him back to a wakeful state. He rubbed his eyes with his free hand, opening them up to look up at her as she pushed at his shoulder lightly. “Mornin’.” He muttered, turning his head and kissing at her forearm that still lingered near his shoulder and head.

She smiled down at him and mentioned that the rest of the group would be getting up to get a move on shortly, neither of them really being ones for open affection… meant they both unspokenly agreed that it was best to disconnect just a bit to avoid the glances. “Aww. Cute. Oscar and Zoe… Maybe not Zoe. Nat you’re too well… Nat to be a Sesame Street character.” Clint quipped, coming around the base of the tree having seen them when he passed the first time to use the restroom when he first got up.

He limped away just out of reach when Natasha cursed at him in Russian, teasing that he shouldn’t even know about children shows. The archer bellowed with laughter, hurrying away and calling back over his shoulder, “Get up kids we’re goin’ in twenty. Soon as everybody eats.”

Daryl’s blue eyes watched Clint leave then tracked over to Natasha who seemed a little more irate than even he was as he got to his feet. They did as they were told and headed to the fires that had more or less died out completely from the dew of the previous night. The group chowed down on breakfast or what they could scrounge up for it anyways, packing up in less than a few minutes and heading out within the time frame Clint allowed and the other’s agreed to.

Daryl had lost track of the mileage they walked exactly, shrugging his shoulders when Clint asked him. “Next mile marker’s about an hour or so up… So ‘bout another three miles out, give or take. Thinkin’ we should call it a night when we hit the cross tracks?” He asked, glancing back to see Beth struggling to aid their ‘leader’ in walking any further. “’Ere.” He doubled back, replacing his crossbow over his shoulder and taking to Clint’s other side. He might hardly know the man but at least he wasn’t dangerous and he knew that by now, trust him enough to lead their group and follow his orders just like he had done Rick.

Beth smiled and Clint pulled his arm from around the small blonde’s shoulders, grumbling about if he could even make it that far. He kept his voice low, looking at Natasha and with the little glance back she gave she must have heard him and known he was in a great deal of pain if he was even seriously mentioning having to stop sooner than they said. “When did they allow bitchin’ in ‘Paramilitary corps’ and shit?” Daryl teased, more trying to lighten the mood and cause a smile to crack on Natasha’s face, seeming happy to hear him at least trying with her friend.

Clint laughed, “Big talk from fuckin’ Army Reserves over here.” He quipped right back, having caught on fairly quickly that with the way he took orders, way he showed respect and helped where he could in whatever task he was given, he had to be military. Army was only a guess but judging by the way the tracker clenched up it must have been a touchy subject.

“So that’s what you did?” Beth rang in, jogging to catch up with them when she fell a few paces behind. “I thought you said you were a motorcycle mechanic. You told Michonne you were FBI or somethin’ didn’t you?” She questioned, having spent years now trying to figure out who Daryl Dixon used to be. “Why would you hide from that, Daryl? That’s amazin’—Carol was right about you, you shoulda been in Rick’s place. I bet you’d ‘ve taken out the Governor first hand, that first meetin’. Things coulda been so different for us Daryl.” She continued, making him steadily tense up more.

Natasha stopped in her tracks, looking at him and catching his gaze when he snapped. “Shut up. Beth yah don’t know what the fuck you’re talkin’ about so shut up.” The normally quiet man barked back, pulling away from Clint and not caring that he nearly tumbled being left without a crutch.

“Daryl I didn’t mean nothin’! Why don’t you ever wanna think about it? How it coulda been?! We could’ve survived! All of us!” Beth called after him, her voice shaky with emotion as she tried her best not to cry, catching the attention of the others that were walking ahead, a few of them hushing her. “You could have kept order I bet. We all trusted you, even Glenn. And Maggie. My Dad! You never spoke—“ She broke off into a startled shriek as a snarling walker took hold of her arm from around the patch of trees, the fear making her break into tears completely.

She fell on her rear, tripping over a root of a thick tree and the biter followed her down, stumbling atop her. Beth screamed out of base reaction, her mind drawing a blank on actually pulling her knife but an unsteady Clint grabbed his bow before Daryl could turn around a react to the sounds, drawing a bolt and firing it instantly at the walker, its bloody head dropping down onto the girl’s shoulder and he tried his best to bend and help her up, lugging the body off her own and asking if she was alright. She nodded and glanced at Daryl in shock that he didn’t come to her rescue. “You know everythin’ remember? Y’all wanted to do it alone. That’s really why yah got taken. Cuz yah won’t fuckin’ listen.” The tracker growled at her but his own words and grunts were followed by others from every corner of the woods either that or the few that were coming echoed and sounded like more.

 

Natasha was torn over if she should intervene in what was obviously a conflict between the two that had been ongoing or at least bubbling under the surface for awhile, but she didn't have any more time to think about that when the geeks decided to crash their party.

The main danger with living in the world as it was now was that there was simply no way to predict wherever you went if you would run into one walker, a herd of a hundred or more, or none at all. Cities were often hotspots for biters but even out in the open packs of the things roamed in an aimless, tireless march searching for fresh meat.

Natasha's mind started going a million miles a minute and she called out to Brian and the other capable men to start flanking the group, running to Clint and standing beside him, drawing her knives and trying to get some kind of idea of what they were dealing with. A veritable horde of undead were breaking through the treeline and while the redhead was outwardly cool and collected her heart was pounding like a drum. There were far too many to stand and fight, and there were those in their group if they ran that... Would fall behind.

"We've got to buy them as much time to cross the river as we can." Natasha said in a tense tone as she began shooting geeks in the head, there was no point in trying to maintain silence any longer. Clint nodded stiffly, firing bolt after bolt with perfect accuracy despite his pain. The map showed a water way that the tracks ran alongside up by the next crossroads in the tracks, it was wide and deep enough to allow escape at least from the immediate threat.

Clint and Natasha stood their ground as the walkers started swarming, trying to keep their backs to the open space to get away while still stemming the flow while the rest of the group made a run for it in the direction of the crossroads. Two or three had already been brought down but there were simply too many of the geeks to cover every one.

Daryl had his own hands full directing people away from the walkers, he yanked his blonde companion back towards the tracks when she moved to stand and fight, and to Natasha's relief she listened to the tracker when he yelled at her to run with the others. He came to stand by the pair of agents, fighting back to back with Natasha to keep the monsters away from Clint while he stood stationary and picked off as many as he could with his well placed arrows.

Brian and two others fighting fell, and a large swell of walkers broke off in pursuit of the 'civilians' that were running at whatever pace they could manage down the tracks. Natasha looked with alarm from the runners back to her partner, locking eyes with the blond archer and flinching when he called out to her to get their asses moving to protect the rest of the group.

"I'm not leaving you!" Natasha yelled back, but even as she spoke the words she knew there was no other choice. Everyone that her partner had suffered so much to save and protect would die if she and Daryl didn't go help them now. Clint knew she understood as well, not saying any more simply going back to killing as many geeks as he could.

Natasha called Daryl's name who was yanking his heavy knife out of a walker's skull, motioning for him to follow her and when he saw what was happening he agreed with no hesitation. The pair rushed around the slower moving monsters, putting themselves between the living people and the surging threat keeping them at bay. 

Clint shrank further and further from Natasha's sight and her heart quailed, but all her energy had to go towards saving the people he'd given everything for, she owed him that at least. She and Daryl got the survivors in sight of the water, now that there were less walkers chasing them Daryl didn't argue when Beth came to fight beside them while the others started crossing the water.

"Get everyone across, stay with them! I'm going back for Barton!" Natasha yelled to her lover who was several yards away covering Beth's back as they fought. He yelled back for her not to go but she was deaf to it, now that she knew the civilians would be relatively safe there was nothing that would stop her from going back to save her partner's stubborn ass. 

Daryl couldn’t do anything to keep Natasha with him, knowing if he followed then Beth likely would chase after him too, trying to keep him away from the group of geeks. He screamed for her not to take off, telling her it wasn’t safe but naturally she didn’t even react to his words. He knew she was on a mission, a mission to save Clint from whatever he was now wrapped up in. There was no way of knowing if the man had been eaten alive or if… he actually made it out somehow. “Natasha!” He tried one last time but she didn’t turn, didn’t even flinch as she took off.

He kept to his task, mostly because he knew it was the right thing to do, focus on getting the others out alive because that’s what she wanted. He tried to focus on Beth, keeping her safe, she was important to him too, maybe not to the same extent but he didn’t exactly want to lose her either. Despite their little spat that had… more or less caused this whole thing anyways.

\----

Clint had fought and he fought hard, just as always. It happened in seconds flat, getting swarmed was never something you planned for even in his corporation at least not by the undead. Going to war was easier than this but in his mindset he was ready… Ready for the end, wanting nothing more than to relax again. As long as the others were safe, Natasha was safe, that was all that mattered.

He pried an arrow from the side of a walkers skull, using it again to drive through another’s brain. He tugged himself back by one arm along the sharp graveled ground, reaching as far as he could to grab a rock beside his head, using it as a blunt instrument to bash open the lurker’s heads. They kept coming, one after another, piling over him on the ground, the dead mingling with the still living ones and landing over his legs and waist. Slowly he got buried.

The archer hollered in pain as one of the one’s that was still kicking without his knowledge, sunk its teeth into his calve. It tore into his flesh, breaking through tendons, muscles, and getting down to the bone in one simple chomp. He kicked at it as best he could, pushing the others off of him and managing just barely to free himself from the fallen enough to move again. He tugged his knife, his last defense from his thigh and just as he got up to his feet, wobbling and swaying slightly from the pain and added blood loss, another took to his back.

The walker bit his shoulder, making him yelp again and calling the other couple that still remained around him. He shoved the blade up into it’s skull, letting it fall to the ground with a solid thud while he force himself to move to lean against a tree for support, pulling an arrow from his quiver and hardly even aiming as he took out another walker, repeating the process with another then another until he felt remotely… ‘safe’ again. His vision flickered in and out and he dropped suddenly to his ass, falling in the dirt and shaking on the hard ground, his breathing trembling and harsh, forcing himself to stay focused as if that might stop the process already beginning in his veins.

Clint’s eyes wandered over his body, inspecting the damage and he counted four bites in total, three of which he had felt and one of which he hadn’t, his shirt was missing a patch, exposing his blood vessels along his toned side. Another bite against his forearm, that was the first he felt… He hissed through his teeth as he brushed his filthy fingers over each mark in turn, jolting at the sound of another approaching. Only this time it wasn’t anything to be afraid of, “Tash.” He sighed with a bit of relief to his tone.

The redhead bent and tried to help him sit up right but every bit of his body protested, looking over at her when she worriedly tried to cover his wounds as if that might fix it, make them go away if you couldn’t see them. He smiled at her and gently took her hand away from his side, shaking his head. “It isn’t worth it.” He muttered, their eyes meeting and she looked on the verge of completely breaking down. He nodded over to her gun on her hip, reaching and flicking open the holster with what little energy he had left. “Do it.” He panted, his eyes starting to close again but she gripped his face to keep him there a little longer, muttering his name over and over again.

He stayed quiet, he mostly felt like he was just going to sleep, passing out and he would never wake up again but he knew that wasn’t true, he wasn’t dying, not really. She started begging him, saying prayers in Russian to try and save him or something. He could hardly hear anyways. Clint reached up, pressing his hand over hers that lingered on his scruffy cheek, running his thumb over her knuckles where he could. “You know on the plus side… my foot feels a lot better.” He chuckled, hearing her laugh and it only broadened his tired smile. “Don’t fuck things up, Nat. Daryl’s alright by me… You deserve all that cookie cutter bullshit. Take it and run, you got it?” He huffed through every few words.

 

Natasha was shaking like a leaf from head to toe as she watched the person who had been her foundation for the only part of her life worth accounting slipping away. She could feel herself crumbling, the only thing keeping her from flying into hysterics was her years of ingrained training reminding her that no matter if her entire world was being flipped on it's head and torn asunder she still had to keep a lid on herself to avoid attracting more biters from this place and in turn towards the refugees far off down the tracks.

The redhead swallowed hard, feeling like she was going to be sick as she mechanically drew her sidearm and chambered a round. The blond archer took her hand from his cheek and settled them down entwined in his lap, his grip sure and steady like he always was despite his horrendous wounds. He prompted her again to do what they both knew she had to and Natasha sharply inhaled through her clenched teeth.

"There are so many things... I need to tell you." She whispered, and her partner smiled softly and shook his head. He promised her that he already knew them all, and that he knew she was going to be all right. One wispy little sob escaped her but she bit her lip to stem any further slips, raising her weapon and lightly touching the barrel to her best friend in the world's temple.

He whispered again that everything was going to be okay, and in that moment she wanted nothing more than to believe that that wasn't utter horseshit. Still, she knew what she had to do, she couldn't let him become one of those things and his skin was already broken out in a fever sweat. Natasha's winter blue eyes stayed locked with the archer's silver ones, and she held her breath and pulled the trigger.

Natasha fell forward from her crouch to her knees, averting her eyes from her partner's head and staring at his chest, her whole body going numb. The mingled scent of gunpowder and her partner's blood made her stomach do flip after flip but she remained perfectly still, blind, deaf and unfeeling to absolutely anything else in the world in that moment.

Minutes or hours later she had no idea how long, Daryl came running to her side and took in the scene. She didn't look up, didn't move, simply cleared her throat that had gone tight from refusing to shed a single tear so she could speak.

"How many survived." She asked, though the tone of her voice was so gray and broken that it didn't even sound like a question. All this needed to be worth something at least, and the only way she was going to be able to carry on and get whoever was left to safety was to completely cut off her heart and focus only on what she needed to do to accomplish that.

Clint shook his head at Natasha saying she had so many things she wanted to tell him, that she needed to tell him. “I know them all. Don’t waste your breath on me, Tash. Everything’s gonna be alright. You’ll be alright.” He said with completely certainty in his voice. He didn’t tear up, merely stared at her watery blue eyes, giving a light smile to try and reassure her.

She sobbed quietly but fought anymore escaping her lips, raising her gun to his head and he kept his grin as best he could, trying to stay strong for her. It had to be this way, he couldn’t turn and he didn’t want to, didn’t want to end up eating her or something along those lines. “It’s gonna be okay.” He promised once more and that was the last thing to slip from his lips before a final round was shot off, ringing through the forest but that was the end. He could rest now.

\----

Daryl heard the gun shot, no other fight, nothing and he knew without even having arrived on seen that one of them had gone down. One of them had to be put out, his heart racing as he ran towards the scene. Natasha was knelt on the ground beside her now dead partner, the man that had saved her to begin with just like she told him all about. He didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t good at those kinds of things, comforting in situations like this, especially when now they happened so often.

“Most.” He answered simply, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. “I didn’t get a head count quite yet.” He muttered, glancing over Clint. He stayed beside her, keeping quiet because he didn’t know what else to say right now. He wanted to reach out to her, hug her to him but he also felt that wasn’t what he was meant to do.

She stared up at him and her eyes watered with tears, turning away to stare back at Clint’s dead body. He wandered over closer and threw his bow over his shoulder, reaching and hoisting the man’s body upright. Natasha followed his lead, glancing at him a little questioningly but she helped aid him, “Sit ‘im up.” He stated, his hand coming up to Clint’s face and he lightly brushed his fingers over the other’s eye lids to guide them closed.

The tracker helped her cross the man’s legs at his ankles, resting his hands in his lap and making him appear he was simply sleeping with his back propped against the trunk of the large tree. She took a shaky little breath and he finally managed to meet her eyes again, “I’m sorry.” He muttered, brushing his knuckles along her hand that lingered in Clint’s lap. “We can take him with us. Bury ‘im. That’s… what we did with our own at the prison.” He suggested, offering his arms to carry the man himself the rest of the way but he knew deep down it wasn’t possible when they had so far left to travel.

Natasha shook her head, claiming she didn’t want to but he could see she meant differently. She wanted to but they couldn’t, it was just easier to pretend for her. He nodded, staying silent again for a while before managing to find something else to say, breaking the quiet, “He was a good man. Like yah said.” He sighed and they shifted back to sit together a bit, lingering for a moment or two longer until she was ready to get moving but they had little time.

Daryl glanced over his shoulder and a small crowd of walkers was steadily making their way towards them. “Luce. We got company comin’. Lurkers that fell behind we gotta go.” He muttered, taking her hand and trying to pull her up to her feet. She yanked back from him and barked at him to wait a second, seeming frantic like she wasn’t certain anymore about leaving him there on his own. She stated that they should do something, that he couldn’t get eaten because she didn’t want him to. “He’s dead. Natasha they won’t…” He muttered, feeling bad instantly with the look that she gave him for saying the words aloud. He was dead.

He tugged a bandana from his pocket, one of many he used to wear when riding his bike or clearing a crowd of walkers, helped keep from breathing stuff in he didn’t want to. The tracker unfolded the slightly stained scrap of fabric and draped it over Clint’s resting face, putting his hand on the man’s shoulder and while he didn’t know him he did feel bad for a number of reasons. “He’ll be fine.” He muttered, glancing at her again and she asked if he would help her take his bow, picking up his quiver that had fallen off his back and taking all the arrows scattered about for herself, needing something to remember him. Daryl nodded and plucked the bow from the ground that the man had been grasping previously.

“C’mon. We gotta go. We can’t do nothin’ else.” He told her, getting up and heading away from the scene, grabbing her by the back of her shirt and giving a gentle but insistent tug to get her to her feet as well. She stood and wiped her eyes, kissing her fingertips and pressing them to the scrap of fabric over Clint’s face, about where his lips would be, muttering in another language to him. Daryl offered his hand for her to take as she hauled the quiver nearly half filled with arrows and they ran back to find the others.

The pair easily outstripping the remaining walkers pursuing them, arriving at the water several moments later and quickly wading across. The rest of the refugees were huddled on the opposite bank, all wearing the same look of frightened despair on their faces. Natasha was only functioning because she knew she had to for their sake, pushing down everything she felt and relying on the cold, almost robotic persona she'd had ingrained on her back in her Red Room days to carry on.

"Prepare to move out, we'll reach the base by nightfall if we keep a steady pace." Natasha instructed in a serious monotone, her blue eyes frozen over and her body still trembling somewhat no matter how much she locked down the torrent of anger and sorrow inside her.

A few members of the group asked where Barton was, in the short time he was with these people they had come to see him as their leader and friend and so they all stared up at her intently wanting her to give them a different answer than they all knew was coming. Natasha swallowed hard, trying to force herself to say the words but they clotted in her throat.

Daryl finally broke the tense silence, telling them all that the Hawk had fallen fighting for them and so they needed to get their asses ready to move out so his sacrifice wasn't in vain. His words seemed to jolt them all out of their shell shocked state enough to gather themselves together enough to get a move out.

The now much smaller, much more desperate group sped down the tracks as quickly as they could, the fear of the earlier attack and the promise that safety was within reach spurring them on despite their fatigue and sorrow at having lost so many of their own.

They came to the farthest perimeter sentries right about at sundown, Natasha spoke to them showing them her shield clearance and they were immediately allowed to pass. She, Daryl and Beth helped guide everyone else to the walls surrounding the base, everyone except the redhead shocked by the amount of fortification they had.

A whole crew of shield personnel bombarded them almost immediately, checking for any bites or scratches first and ushering everyone to the open air triage area to get checked out and decontaminated. Natasha went through the steps mechanically, helping where she could and allowing herself to be looked over and feeling at least a fraction or relief now that she'd gotten as many of her partner's foundlings to safety as she could.

They finally made it to base after a long morning, afternoon and evening. It was well into the night by the time they got somewhat settled, surrounded by SHIELD employees or that’s what he thought they were told they were. Whatever SHIELD was. Daryl’s gaze flickered over to Natasha, wondering what was on her mind outside of the fact that they left her partner to die and not to mention ditched his body after she went back to finish the job.

He couldn’t do much of anything to help her no matter how much he might have wanted to run over, tell her things would be okay. It didn’t work that way with people like them. They just had to steadily power through it and pretend for a while or refocus before things really did work themselves out a bit. He kept to himself, letting people run him through a standard line of tests, bathe them each down in turn and it was probably the most… thorough cleaning he had gotten in a long time.

The base was almost frightening yet… oddly enough it was a comfort with the amount of guards, the people that seemed to know exactly what they were doing, where to go and what to do and how to handle taking in new people. The group was fed in little under a couple hours, far more food than they could ever have imagined in their world. Natasha didn’t eat, in fact she didn’t sit with them at all, taking to cleaning her weapon for the first time in who knew how long at the other table.

She wanted to keep herself occupied, Daryl knew that but as it would seem Beth didn’t. “I should bring her somethin’. She’s not eatin’ cuz she’s stuck in her own head but she’s never lost people.” The blonde muttered close to Daryl’s side, watching Natasha avoid looking up at anyone. Little did she know that of all people the redhead probably knew more about loss than any of them. She just didn’t talk about it or dwell on it.

Daryl stayed quiet, though Beth tried adamantly to get him to say something but he merely grunted, tearing into his food and making a mess of himself but not really caring. “Daryl this is our fault. The walkers wouldn’t have come if you didn’t yell at me and I didn’t upset you. We have to talk to her.”

“No it ain’t.” Daryl said simply, finally looking over to her and staring her down as he licked off his fingers free of barbeque sauce from his burger. Something he never thought he would have the luxury of again. “Shut up and eat.” He snipped.

Beth glared at him and picked up her plate, leaving her drink behind to which Daryl stole, drinking the juice down happily, ignoring her huffing off. That was until he heard her voice again as she dropped down to the spot beside Natasha. “Hi.” The young woman greeted, setting her plate down that was barely half eaten through. “I umm… I know they offered to feed you too but I couldn’t eat all mine if you wanna share. Save time and food, y’know.” She muttered, offering a light smile and pushing her plate over a bit.

Natasha didn’t take the bait, hardly even looked up at her to even acknowledge that someone else was sitting with her at the table she was housed. They were given new clothes which was a huge luxury in and of itself, a big change for all of them to have such a comfort as truly clean clothes. “We all kind of look like inmates or something now don’t we? Well except you… in uniform and all. It suits you oddly enough.” She mentioned, getting nervous the longer she sat with the overly silent woman though she was used to Daryl giving her the cold shoulder she never took well to it until he snapped and told her off. “Umm—Clint… He mentioned you a lot. To me at least.”

Again there was silence but the woman’s hands cleaning her gun slowed, her blue gaze lifting to look at her. “I’m really sorry. It’s all my fault. Me and Daryl’s we killed Clint when we brought those walkers. He’d never have had to risk himself if we didn’t start fighting in the open like that. I know better than to bring that stuff up to Daryl and I did it anyways and I’m so sorry, Miss Romanoff.” Beth rattled off suddenly, her eyes watering and she was starting to break down completely waiting for her to say something in return. "He protected me. He did... the whole way like he promised and I threw him away and he was important to you... I'm sorry. I wish I could take it back." She cried.

 

Natasha listened to the blonde going on until she was dissolving into tears, but the spy's frozen over heart didn't feel even a twinge of sympathy for the girl. Her blue gaze stayed locked on to the young girl's and she didn't break it as she spoke, ensuring that Beth got the full impact of what she was saying.

"Never presume to tell me how I felt about my partner, little girl. He and I had a bond you could never hope to comprehend." Natasha slowly stood and began mechanically reassembling her weapon, so well versed in the task that she didn't have to drop her gaze from the girl's teary eyes for one second as she did so.

"Your history with Daryl is none of my business, and it did not cause... What happened." Natasha's voice fractured for half an instant as she stumbled over saying anything about Clint's death out loud, but she quickly recovered. 

"This world is cold, violent and brutal and no amount of tears will change that. Now, I want you to think long and hard about why you really came over here. Was it because you feel genuine concern for me? I doubt it. It's clear to any fool with eyes that I did not wish to be disturbed, and if you had any respect for my needs you would have left well enough alone." Natasha finished assembling her gun and holstered it. She turned and walked a pace away, but turned her head over her shoulder to finish saying her piece even though a part of her knew better.

"No. You came here and inflicted your blubbering on me to ease your own guilt, which is unfounded since as I mentioned earlier, that pack of walkers would've come upon us whether you caused a scene or not. It happened because that's what goes down in this shit hole of a world we find ourselves in. If you really want to 'make up' for what happened, then integrate yourself here and make a real life for yourself, honor the sacrifices that brought you to this haven by not wasting time on meaningless apologies and crocodile tears." She finished, striding away at a determined pace and not looking back.

The redhead could not handle a direct discussion about losing Clint in any context, at least not yet. She hadn't been able to get the image of blowing his brains out to stop replaying in her head since it happened and keeping everything pushed down in order to function only worked if she didn't actually have to acknowledge anything out loud. She all but ran from the mess area, not really having a destination in mind all she knew was that she needed to get away from anything or anyone that might make her acknowledge that she was shattering into tiny pieces.

Beth wiped her eyes, sobbing uncontrollably by now the longer that Natasha spoke the harder it was for her to keep her composure at all. Not to say that she was before anyhow. She stared in shock with the way she spoke to her, so harsh and cold but yet she knew why or at least she figured she did. The woman was similar to Daryl in the way she handled things, maybe worse but she refused to grieve or acknowledge it and maybe part of her thought she would be the one to cause some sort of break through like she had done for the tracker she had come to know as a brother or father figure by now.

It didn’t happen like she hoped, listening with teary eyes as the redhead harshly reminded her of the cruelty of the world today, far worse than it had been before. This wasn’t high school drama there was so much more to it. A long while ago Beth promised herself and the others she was done crying but that was broken, she held back so much over time that eventually it made her snap again, she grew reckless with Daryl at her side for a time or two until he made her realize how stupid she had been and was being. Just as Natasha was doing now, she was being selfish and dumb but at the same time… how could she not.

“He—He was important to me too!” She screamed as if that made it better, as if knowing the man for a week or two even gave her the right to say such a thing. With the look she got she knew instantly the words she spoke didn’t fix it at all, made it worse in fact and for a moment she thought Natasha might tear after her, cause more of a scene and give her something fresh to be afraid of. Her breathing hitched and she stayed very still in her chair, trying not to break down and cry again as the woman mentioned the facts, that she came over here only to make her feel better, not to help Natasha in any form.

She opened her mouth to speak again but opted against it with the look she earned and the way that the other woman tore off before much else could be spoken between them. The blonde took a few long shaky breaths in, trying to calm herself before standing up and screaming, “That isn’t fair! It’s not meaningless! I’m not upset for—“ She started but Daryl’s large hand clasped over her shoulder, tugging her back rather roughly and encouraging her to go sit at the table with the others. She jolted as if his touched burned, yanking her arm away and he glared at her, indicating without saying that she screwed up. He let her so she would learn, hopefully anyways.

The hunter pulled away from her and shoved past a few people in the mess hall to try and chase after Natasha. His pace was easy, unrushed but still he managed to catch up to her eventually. He said nothing, tracking her down and finding the redhead, his redhead, hiding out in one of the empty rooms. It was likely a place meant for the refugees to recuperate a sort of holding place for observation or something along the lines with how basic it was furnished. He grabbed the door before she could close it on him, pulling it open and half startling her in her nearly broken down state.

Daryl stepped inside completely, pushing the door closed until it clicked to latch and he simply watched her, staring at him with watery eyes. She was trying so desperately to push everything down and he knew that look, knew that feeling likely more than anyone and here in a place where she knew people it was likely harder for her to want to let go considering this was her work technically speaking. She turned away from him abruptly and he gave her a moment or two to take slow centering breaths before stepping up behind her and wrapping his arms around her slender frame. He supported her weight to his front, hushing her gently without using any real words to do so.

Natasha's gut reaction to Daryl wrapping his arms around her was to tense further, but it only took a second or so of feeling his warmth around her for the tension to start slowly seeping out of her taut petite frame. He didn't speak a word, he didn't need to, the tracker simply held her up when she could no longer stand on her own, not only physically but emotionally as well. He might not totally get what losing Clint really meant to her, but the tracker understood better than anyone what it was like not to be able to open up, to let anyone see your weakness.

He pressed his scruffy cheek against the back of her head, getting as much contact with her as possible and Natasha simply couldn't hold up her walls anymore. "He's gone." The redhead sobbed brokenly, her whole body shaking in Daryl's strong grip as she cried. Tears rolled down her cheeks and off the point of her chin, falling on the hunter's corded arms wrapped across her front.

Still he said nothing, expected nothing, standing there quietly letting her cry until she thought she might actually dissolve away. Natasha shifted in his grasp, she was spiraling in her sorrow and was starting to fear now that she'd started crying she wouldn't be able to stop. She felt ridiculous and vulnerable, but she needed her lover too much to force herself to stop when she gripped his face and started kissing him ravenously. Maybe it wasn't fair of her to expect him to let her hide in him like this for awhile, but she wanted so desperately to be distracted from her aching sadness that she clung to him tighter when he made a token effort to pull away.

She nipped at his lip and threaded her fingers into his long dark hair, holding him in place practically begging him without words not to put a stop to this even if that was the most sensible thing to do. Natasha mewled into his mouth when he finally returned her kiss, melting into him and opening her mouth to him so their tongues could slide together intimately.

Natasha tugged him forward and stepped back, prompting him to move with her still entwined till the back of her thighs hit the rolling triage bed that was set up in the small recovery room they had slipped into. She didn't have to compel him further and simply gave in to him laying her back on the bed, breaking contact with her long enough to lean back and kick the wheel brake on the bed so it wouldn't wobble so much while they were on it.

Daryl climbed up on the bed with her, settling between her legs and their lips met again in a hungry kiss. Tears still slipped from the corners of Natasha's closed eyes and ran down into her hair, but her tracker's mouth, hands and weight pressing her down onto the thin mattress were quickly taking up space in her mind and pushing away the heaviest portion of her grief.

Natasha reached down and unfastened her thigh holster holding her gun, letting it fall gently to the ground and Daryl smirked at her, tugging his own gun from the back of his pants and shoving it under the pillow beneath her head, it was a testament to the sort of people they were that that actually made the spy smile. Daryl kissed her again, but this time it was slower, sweeter, and Natasha found that more than anything rough and heavy like she usually wanted, she craved that tenderness right now.

She responded in kind, kissing back softly and sighing desperately as his lips trailed slowly from hers along her jaw down to the sensitive pulse point beneath her ear, and she found that his lightest of touches on the inch of exposed skin above her hip from her shirt being pushed up was making her heart pound like a hammer on steel.

"Daryl..." Natasha whispered, closing her eyes and tugging at his wrist to draw his hand further up under her shirt, needing more than anything for him to simply touch her and he seemed to understand just what she wanted even if all she said was his name.

Daryl tugged his gun from the back of his jeans, chuckling a little when she did at the fact that they both lived lives every before today where they felt the need to have a weapon at their side at all times. He pocketed it away under the pillow beneath her head, cupping the side of her face and sealing their lips together again in a slow deep kiss, different than before, savoring her taste and every little hitched breath as she returned the contact.

His mouth left hers, trailing down along her jaw to her ear, kissing and sucking at her warm flesh lightly. He worked his way down, ever so gently his hand wandered to her side, fingers dancing along her exposed skin along her waist and she drew his hand up, all but begging him to touch her like she wanted. He understood, fondling her through her thin bra, his thumb running circles over her hardened nipple, making her hiss with want at the touch. He shifted and hooked his fingers into her shirt, prompting her to sit up to tug her shirt off completely, reaching around her back slow and soft with unhooking her bra from around her body.

Natasha’s breathing picked up slightly, tugging the fabric from her front, her eyes still watery as he eyed her exposed upper half. She reached out and tried to open the front of his sleeveless shirt, her hands shaky and he had never seen her like this, moving slow and uncertain of herself but the look in her eye told him she needed this. He lingered on his knees, hovering over her body and quickly undid the buttons of his top, tugging it off and taking her hand, kissing her fingers up to her wrist and gently pulling her hand to rest over his heart so she could feel just how fast it was pounding in his chest.

She was the only person that turned him on like this, that made him nervous like she did. His free hand reached out, cupping her cheek again and brushing his thumb over her skin just beneath her eye, watching her intently. Slowly she started to lie back for him again, guiding him with her once more. The tracker pressed his lips down to hers, kissing her languidly and making them both groan, leaving them breathless before follow back down to her chest, his mouth finding each peak in turn and working them over with his tongue and teeth until she was gasping, making him almost certain that if he wanted to he could make her lose it with only stimulation to her full chest like this.

Natasha’s voice broke his concentration however, her hand tugging at his hair to see his face, muttering his name again like it was the only thing she could remember in her vocabulary. She nudged his hand on her hip down to the front of her jeans, rolling her body up against him to encourage him to do more. He followed her lead, unfastening her pants and helping her wriggle out of them, leaving her completely bare beneath him. He couldn’t help but take another moment to admire her every curve, every feature, finding his fingers tracing up and down her legs until she fidgeted once more and he realized he had done nothing to aid her in what she was wanting from him.

He drew his calloused fingers up her inner thigh, kissing her breast once more and finding her wet core, dipping his digits inside her body and stroking her walls. She hardly made a sound, watching him as intently as he was focusing on her body, swirling his fingers over her clit and alternating his motions to drive her back up like he had with a mix of his mouth and hands.

Daryl knelt between her legs, lifting his head from her full breast and fixing her with that intense stare of his that made her heart race in a way no other man's gaze ever had. His hand worked her center, driving her pleasure up and melting away the ice cold weight that had been pressing down on her chest.

The more his dexterous fingers riled her up, the more Natasha thought she would forget her pain, but in reality the heat he was causing in her body simply thawed her heart out from the frozen thing she'd forced it to become since she was forced to kill her best friend. It made her feel her pain, made her accept it but it also made her feel her lover's affection for her and it was all so much she couldn't stop weeping to save her life.

Natasha moaned low and raggedly through her tears, her lower back arching off the bed as Daryl sucked at her sensitive peaks and pumped into her faster with his strong digits, her fingers twisting in the sheets as her orgasm unraveled her. Her eyes stayed locked on a fixed point as she came, watching the corded muscles of her tracker's arm flex and roll beneath his tight tanned skin as he maintained his vigorous pace and drew her pleasure out till she was breathless.

Her lower half fell back on the bed and Natasha grasped desperately at Daryl's neck and shoulders trying to draw him up to her again and he lifted his head, surging forward and kissing her deeply as he began rocking his hard bulge against her soaked center. Even through his newly acquired cargo pants she could feel him throbbing for her and it kept her floating on the end of her climax, desperate to have all of him.

Natasha murmured to him in Russian, pleading with him to give her more and her hand slipped down to flick his pants open, quelling any doubts the language barrier might've left though she was certain he knew exactly what she wanted. Daryl kissed her slow and deep, reaching down to help her shove his pants and briefs out of the way, and she got goosebumps all over from the sounds he made when she wrapped her hand around his length and pumped him firmly from base to tip.

He braced himself above her and started rhythmically thrusting into her hand, meeting her gaze again and his dark stare and slackened jaw let her know he wanted her as badly as she did him. Natasha lifted her legs and prodded her heels into his ass, prompting him to take her and again he responded immediately to what she wanted, pushing into her with a loud groan.

Natasha's head lolled back and she dragged her nails lightly up his marred back, making him shiver and she felt her tears brim over her lashes anew as she recalled her partner's reminder not to 'fuck things up' with Daryl and she couldn't help but smile through her crying. This man was everything she wanted and needed and she had never felt closer to him than she did in this moment.

Natasha mewled as Daryl drew almost all the way out of her body only to drive back into her core, hitting her sweet spot in a slow steady rhythm that was causing her second climax to build up slowly but surely. He hooked his hand into the crook of her knee and drew her leg up high on his back, opening her up further so he could hit her even deeper.

Natasha tugged at his dark hair and met his lips in a tender kiss, their sounds of pleasure mingling on their shared breaths as they neared the brink. Daryl tensed above her and she could tell he was holding back his own release till she was ready, so she tipped her head up to put her full lips to his ear.

"Faster... Please Daryl... Ahh!" Natasha panted, her grip on him tightening when he responded to her request, speeding his pace and crying out raggedly as her inner walls clenched and fluttered around him in ecstasy.

Daryl shuddered at the feeling of her nails dragging along his marred flesh, driving him closer and closer to the edge of his peak with every motion of their bodies. He slammed into her slow and deep, hooking her legs up higher around his thick waist and driving into her even deeper to carry her towards her second orgasm. His body tensed up, fighting his own release so they could come together, determined to get her there as well and soon enough she dragged her lips up to speak against his ear, begging quietly for him to take her faster.

He followed the order instantly, picking up the pace and carrying her to her peak of pleasure with him sure to follow. Natasha’s inner most muscles clamped around him, drawing him in with every thrust of his hips and within a matter of a few moments she was unraveling beneath him, coming around his length and making him groan harshly as he followed her over, coming deep inside her body.

He rode out their shared high until he was completely spent and panting to regain his composure, slumping over her form slightly and idly running his hands along her hips as he kissed at her shoulder and neck. He could feel her tears against his skin but didn’t address them with words, simply offered affection in a manner he might not do for anyone else. The tracker slipped from her body and she groaned at the loss of him inside her, snatching his neck and forcing him to stay low and keep kissing her like he had been. 

He kissed her sweetly, slowly letting his tongue brush against hers in an intimate manner as they settled and tried to control their breathing once more. Her breath was still shaky, knowing full well it was from her crying more so than their activities as she ravished his mouth with her own and clung to him like she never had before. Daryl finally lifted his head, pulling away slightly just to press his forehead to hers and meet her gaze, taking her hand from his face and drawing her fingers to his chest again but not before kissing her knuckles each in turn.

“I’m not goin’ anywhere, Luce.” He muttered, knowing she was partly using her affections to make him linger, to help her forget but there was only so much he would be able to do and they both knew that. He shifted his weight and rolled off her on the small bed, managing on his side and gently nudging her over so they could swap positions and he could cradle her above him, wrapping his arms tight around her as soon as she settled and much to his surprise and comfort she didn’t cringe away.

Natasha’s cheek burrowed into his chest, clutching his fingers as best she could while her other hand took to tracing the outline of the memorial tattoo he had in his skin, likely reconsidering her remorse. He gave her all the time she needed, his eyes never leaving hers as he trailed his large free hand up and down her back, keeping her in place above his bare form and enjoying being skin to skin with her like this again in such an intimate fashion, not rushed like it had been once before. They were safe here, almost entirely they could relax.

He started to settle when she mentioned they should get moving, straightening up off of him but he kept his fingers hooked with hers, not letting her up like she wanted. “We can afford ten minutes or so more. Fuck we could nap in here. Ain’t shit we gotta worry about, Natasha. C’mon.” He muttered, half pleading with his eyes for her not to leave him quite yet, “We’ll be fine.” He assured her, not meaning just now with resting in the observation room but meaning always, that wasn’t a promise he could keep entirely but he knew no matter what the outcome at some point they would be okay he just hoped that meant they were together.

 

Natasha's dewy blue gaze flickered over his face, the corner of her full pout tugging up slightly and she knew he was right, they really could probably spend the rest of the day in here and no one would ever be the wiser. She nodded slightly and lowered herself back down to his front, sighing and allowing herself to simply savor the feeling of lying skin to skin with her lover.

They lay entwined in the quiet for a long while, and Natasha seemed to realize all at once how truly exhausted she was. She had been on edge ever since she first set out to find Clint in the first place a few weeks ago, and it had only gotten worse the last couple days. She had been certain that she wouldn't be able to sleep with the image of shooting her partner in the head being hers to keep forever, but now in the warmth and security of her tracker's arms she felt herself drifting off and not being able to stop it.

The redhead slept soundly atop her lover's frame, for how long she wasn't sure but when she woke again it was to the soothing feeling of Daryl's large hands lightly running up and down her back. She murmured softly in bliss, amazed that she'd been able to drift off into dreamless sleep and she knew she owed that to the comfort of her lover's embrace. 

Natasha slowly lifted her head and met Daryl's narrow gaze, he had a soft grin on his features and it made her smile in turn to see him so at ease. She was fairly certain that her skeptical tracker never quite believed there really was a safe haven for them waiting at the end of the road but she couldn't blame him after living through so much hardship.

"Did you sleep at all?" Natasha asked in a sleepy voice, stretching atop him and realizing that being in proximity with her had him relaxed in all ways except one. She grinned and slowly rolled her hips against his, rubbing her abdomen against his hardness pressed into her making him groan low in his chest. His grip on her tightened slightly and he told her he hadn't slept but felt rested just the same.

The spy drew her full lower lip between her teeth and grinned slightly, at least here in this small haven she could think about something other than her loss for awhile. "How long do you think we've been tucked away in here? Won't your little one be missing you?" Natasha asked, referencing Beth. She wasn't exactly upset with the girl for what she'd said and done earlier, but she also didn't exactly want to face her any time soon either.

Daryl sighed, telling her he wasn't sure but that Beth could wait at least a little while longer, a crooked grin crossing his face and Natasha chuckled a bit in response. She trailed her hand up his chest and shifted her pelvis to align better with his, grinding down on his arousal again making both their hearts beat faster.

"Yes, a little while longer, or perhaps... A longer while, hmm?" Natasha prompted, craning her head down and sealing her lips to Daryl's in a deep kiss. She felt like some smitten silly girl, wanting nothing more than to spend all day in bed with her lover. Outside these walls she had a mountain of responsibilities to attend to, people to interact with, truths to face. She wanted to steal as many moments for just her and her tracker alone.

Natasha purred as Daryl responded to her kiss, her body lighting up with electricity as he tangled one hand in her hair and swept the other down her figure to firmly cup her rear and grind her harder against him. She moaned as his thick length stimulated her clit, rocking her hips faster to drive up her own pleasure and breaking from their kiss to moan loudly at how good he made her feel. Even with her eyes closed she could feel Daryl's intense stare fixed on her face and it sent thrills up and down her body, she'd never had a man so intently focused on her while being intimate.

She raised herself up to brace on his shoulders so she could grind harder down on him, mewling when Daryl's hands slid up to cup and fondle her sensitive breasts. Natasha could feel her pleasure building and even though they weren't even joined yet when Daryl lifted his head to latch onto one rosy peak with his mouth the redhead felt her climax unfurl deep in her belly and she cried out in a mix of English and Russian as her unexpected orgasm unraveled her.

Daryl grinned as Natasha spoke, requesting that they stay a little longer or… a lot longer rather. He had to agree that with the way she was grinding down against him and bending to seal their lips in a kiss, he would want nothing more than to spend the rest of whatever time they could in this space together. He returned the kiss just as hungry and deep, ravishing her mouth with his own and cupping her ass in his hands to force her down harder against him.

She followed the steady guidance he gave as he rolled his hips up into hers and she canted her hips to the same rhythm. He pulled away when she did, watching her lovely face contort with pleasure as she drove herself up by increasing her pace, making both of them groan at the sensation. Natasha’s eyes fluttered closed and he stared at her intently just as he always did, watching her make herself come undone above him without even being connected to him yet.

The tracker traced his hands up her sides to her full breasts, tweaking her nipples and kneading at her warm flesh. His head raised off of the mattress beneath him, opening his mouth to trail kisses across her peak, taking it between his lips and teeth and sucking her firmly while his free hand gave attention to her opposite breast, making her gasp and mewl at his touches. It took little from him for her to bow forward more, her body trembling as she cried out through her orgasm, muttering in a mix of languages as she came against his thick length, making him growl at the feeling of being soaked by her, knowing he caused such a response with such little contact.

She slid along his length, riding out her high above him until she was spent and he let up off her chest, kissing his way to her ear and tugging her down over him to help her settle. “What is that?” He asked and she panted, looking at him with a bit of confusion not knowing what he was referring to at the moment. “The language you’re always speakin’. Where yah from?”

Natasha smiled when she understood, saying something in the same dialect as if in question to which language she meant. He nodded in confirmation, asking again what that was and she answered in the language again before repeating in English that it was Russian, her native tongue. “Fuckin’ sexy.” He groaned up at her, dragging her to grind down against him once more and she gasped, her face contorting from her sensitivity from her pleasure before. She kept up her little talk in Russian and while he had no idea what she was saying, the sultry tone to her voice, the way it was dripping with want as she took his length in her hand and pumped him solidly a few times was driving him crazy.

She guided him to her body and he could only guess what it was she was asking him, if he wanted her so he nodded his head anyways, groaning as she sunk down onto his erection, taking him to the hilt inside her body. The tracker groaned, thrusting up into her heat and sitting up, his hands gliding up her thighs to her hips again, guiding her motions in his lap. She reached for his face, tugging him up to her and their foreheads pressed together, their ragged breath mingling between their faces until she tipped her chin up to kiss him lightly, nipping at his lip and making him jolt and groan in response as she gave a playful little tug.

 

It amused Natasha in the back of her mind that her tracker found her native tongue 'sexy' considering Russian wasn't exactly known for being a language of seduction but she figured it was exotic enough to the man who had likely never heard a foreign language that it was appealing to him. Besides he was a rougher, harsher man, so a language like hers probably suited him better than something more soft and delicate like French.

Not much of her mind was caught up with such thoughts however, especially not when Daryl abruptly sat up and he started taking her in earnest, their bodies sliding easily together with how wet her previous climaxes had made her. The redhead kissed her lover sweetly at first then got rougher, nipping at his lip and forcing him to grant her access making him twitch and moan with want. 

He gripped her harder and their pace increased, driving them both closer to the edge of oblivion and Natasha figured she might as well give in to her impulse to fall back on her native tongue if he enjoyed it, muttering how good he felt and how close she was in Russian and watching with a pleased smirk as he had to fight to keep from losing it before she was ready.

Natasha reached down and tugged his hands up her body, wanting that extra little sensation and she purred when his hands followed her prompting to fondle her full chest again, his eyes flickering from her flushed face to her breasts and back seemingly devouring her with his gaze. Natasha arched back and braced her hands on his thighs just above his knees, offering her tracker a better view of her body and changing the angle he hit her at to make her vision blur and her body shudder as spasms of pleasure overtook her.

Natasha swore and cried out that she was coming in Russian, driving herself down harder into his upward thrusts and clenching her walls around him to make him follow her over the edge. Daryl cursed sharply and bucked up into her like mad, exploding deep inside her adding to her own pleasure as she came around him. They rode out their shared high until they were spent, Natasha's bowed spine finally relaxing and Daryl gathered her against his sweat-dampened torso to take her down with him as he fell back on the mattress.

They lay for a few moments still joined, panting and trying to recover from their pleasure until Natasha finally adjusted her hips to slide off of him and they both shifted to lay more or less on their sides facing each other. Her legs stayed entwined with his and their fronts were pressed together, Natasha normally didn't want or need any 'cuddle time' afterwards but everything was different now. She burrowed in closer to her tracker, pressing her brow against his chest just beneath his collar bone and sighed with relief when he wrapped his arms around her. 

She needed this simple contact with him right now almost as much if not more than she needed the pleasure they found in each other, and Natasha had been feeling a little guilty about letting herself hide in having sex with him but she didn't feel a speck of guilt or remorse about wanting this from him. She closed her eyes and whispered a few endearments against his skin in her native language, knowing he wouldn't understand the words but hoping he felt the meaning behind them. 

Daryl nestled her in his arms, sighing contently and letting her rest against him completely. He knew she needed the escape and he didn’t mind being her escape even if it was only temporary but he was pleased that she allowed more than just sex, let him cradle her and rest with her much like they had the night they spent at the farm house. He kissed at her shoulder up to her neck in an absent minded manner, savoring her and being sweet as they settled down from their highs.

When they both started to drift again was when he finally managed to work up enough energy to remind her they couldn’t stay here or rather they shouldn’t. “Couple of the other agents said we all get rooms. Thought we could bunk together.” He muttered in a bit of a teasing tone of voice, pulling her down for a kiss as she laughed at him only to mewl into the contact of their lips. They spent a few more blissful moments in each other’s arms before finally managing to get up and get dressed again.

\----

Nearly a week out since they lost Clint and made it to their newest ‘home’ though Daryl never thought it would last and he still had his doubts it was becoming a bit of a sanctuary for them no less. He enjoyed housing with Natasha every night, whether the others were avidly aware of the fact that they shared a space or not. They kept their private life private and it would remain such likely for a long time, not to say they were ashamed of being together, most everyone knew by now just neither himself or the redhead were the type to be open about relationships at all.

He had taken to the place no less, did his best to find work where he could so he wouldn’t go stir crazy there. He and Natasha as well as a few others from her old line of work and their group were rallied together to try and become somewhat of a cleanup crew. It was dirty work for the most part, finding bodies of their own, taking out walkers that got too close to their ‘safe haven’ and ‘home’, searching for gas for the few sedans the cooperation managed to get out there in order to keep moving should they need to and for the first time, food wasn’t even an issue. While the SHIELD building’s stock of food wavered by day it never seemed to have enough of a dent in it that couldn’t be replaced one way or another, likely because they had back up of everything somewhere out there.

Today had been a harsher fight, they went further out than normal, found a mess of walkers and a couple survivors that put up a fight no matter how hard Natasha tried to talk them down. They watched one guy put a bullet in his head right before his wife or girlfriend, whatever she was as well as his new found friends. They all drew weapons, threatened the others and SHIELD had no choice but to react and take them down. The tracker still struggled with having to kill people that weren’t exactly turned but the crazy way some of the ones they found rarely had signs that they were infected but not completely transformed so to speak. He managed a bolt between the eyes of a twenty something year old male and to be completely honest he was numb to it.

They put up a fight and that fight drew out the walkers just as it always did when there was an odd amount of ruckus around the town or towards the edge of the woods. It was there job to clear them out should they come, keep them from getting anywhere near their safe perimeter that they had drawn in their heads. He gripped onto Natasha’s side to keep her upright, noting that she was limping and for good reason, when they were running through the edge of the building she stumbled in the worst place possible, a line of broken glass from others trying to get in through the windows.

There was a loose shard in her leg, not enough to cause too much damage but just enough to push her to a good point of pain. Daryl huffed, ignoring his own bumps and bruises from when they booked it through the trees trying originally to out run a pack of biters and taking a few branches to his chest and ribs as he went. Instead he focused on her, smiling despite his pain and she laughed, asking him what the hell he could have to be happy about. “Could think of a few things. Like that you’re the one with the glass in your fuckin’ leg and not me.” He teased, smiling at her crookedly and helping her back towards the building they now lived in with their few men in tow.

Natasha cursed at him in Russian and while he caught onto a few phrases and could tell by the change in her voice what it was she was saying he still didn’t know exactly what the words she spoke were. He took her back to the first check point meant for the refugees, letting a nurse take over and help her into another room to be looked over. They did this routinely now, came in were forced to get tested for infection, checked for bites and scratches even in some of the most personal of places and wash themselves up if they didn’t find anything wrong. He got patched up and was in and out rather quickly which wasn’t unusual but what was, was how long it was taking Natasha.

Normally he waited for her or she waited for him but outside the room she was meant to be in he couldn’t hear much of anything. Maybe she left without him… The tracker waited another ten minutes or so, figuring it was because they were patching up her leg or something along the lines when the door finally popped open and she wandered out slowly, looking sick to her stomach as a nurse followed with her chart in hand. Daryl shot up from where he was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, grabbing her hip lightly and his free hand clasping against the side of her face, looking her over and his heart pounded, “Are you bit? Luce what’s goin’ on?” He demanded, worry showing instantly over his face for what he might hear.

Natasha had had many close brushes with death, though there was never any of that 'white light, warm fuzzies, loved ones beckoning you' bullshit that simpletons talked about. She had been through enough crazy, shocking and downright terrifying events to fill five lifetimes, but even with all of that under her belt, she wasn't sure she'd ever felt such a strange sensation of her mind being disconnected from her body out of pure shock before.

It was almost as though she was floating above her physical form that was merely a hollow shell, watching her lover look her over with the utmost concern and she couldn't blame him with how pale and vacant she looked. When she'd gone in to have her leg stitched up and all the usual decontamination and blood work done, the last news she'd expected to get was this.

She blinked rapidly a few times trying to summon up her ability to speak coherently as she continued to struggle to wrap her head around her current reality that she had believed for years, decades now even, wasn't possible. 

"No, no I'm..." Natasha swallowed hard, making herself look Daryl in the eyes as she spoke in a voice soft enough so as not to be overheard, "I'm pregnant." She uttered, feeling like she'd just had the world's biggest joke played on her. All her life she'd believed her body had been ruined past the point of being able to conceive a child, and now when it was more dangerous than ever to have a baby it had happened to her.

The spy reached up to grip Daryl's wrist just below where his hand cupped her face, every muscle tense and every breath shaky as she waited for her lover's reaction to the news.

Daryl gripped her a little tighter involuntarily when she claimed she wasn’t okay, taking a step forward to be close and in her space. Her eyes flickered up to meet his and he held his breath waiting for further explanation but the one she gave didn’t seem to fit. He stared at her as she grabbed his wrist of the hand that held her face in place before him, trying to process what she had just said to him. Pregnant. She said she couldn’t get pregnant.

“What?” He asked simply, having spent a few moments trying to wrap his head around the words. She shook her head seeming to try and work up the courage and energy to repeat the words she said to him making his heart race. He swallowed down the worry clumping up his throat and nodded. She questioned something or said something to him in regards to their situation but he couldn’t hear her, too focused on how this could have happened.

“Thought you couldn’t get pregnant.” The tracker mumbled sounding like a mix between a statement and a question. “You can’t get pregnant, Luce.” He insisted as if he would be the one to know for certain but that was more to comfort himself into believing this wasn’t really happening. He couldn’t be a dad, he watched his own do stupid things, had his own beat on him and his brother and he always feared the cycle would repeat. He swore he would never have kids unless he could offer them everything… or at all. He preferred at all.

In the world today he had nothing to offer, not even to Natasha. His blue eyes flickered down to her stomach and he felt he might be sick from the news… every bit of him knew she was different to him. He might not be able to say the words but he wasn’t stupid and he knew what he felt about her. He didn’t know what to say to her, how he was ‘supposed’ to react or what it was he was ‘meant’ to say to comfort her because he wasn’t even certain what he wanted himself. He thought about it another moment or two and then he knew what was most important to him was Natasha.

“Are you okay?” Daryl questioned, his thumb running along her cheek affectionately. Ultimately she was his number one.

Natasha watched the blatant shock and worry play out on her tracker's normally guarded face, and she couldn't blame him one bit for being thrown completely for a loop because she was in the same boat except worse since he had the option if he so chose of simply running from this news and she... Didn't. Ultimately though she was relieved by what he asked her, shrugging her narrow shoulders slightly and trying to keep her voice steady as she responded.

"I'm not sure. I mean I'm all right physically as far as can be measured, but... I'm not- I mean, I wasn't supposed to be able to... This wasn't supposed to happen." She rambled, her normally eloquent speech completely thrown off. Her grip on him tightened involuntarily when he started to pull back, her eyes going wider and he immediately reassured her, tugging his hand down from her face and taking her fingers in his, whispering that he wasn't going anywhere and that helped her relax somewhat.

Things changed rather abruptly after that. Natasha's superiors were just as shocked by the news as she was, immediately taking her out of the rotation to go on 'clean up' missions and putting her to far more mundane tasks that kept her in the safety of the base area. For now she had the cover of her leg being wounded but that would only last for so long. 

While it wasn't announced to anyone else she still felt like she constantly had to look over her shoulder and make sure no one was staring at her and somehow realizing the truth. She wasn't sure why she felt a need to keep her pregnancy a secret, hardly any of the people here knew her or knew what kind of life she'd lived, they had no information to judge her anywhere near as harshly as she was judging herself for bringing a new life into this godforsaken world.

But still, it ate away at her. She couldn't be a mother, she didn't know the first thing about caring for a child. Sure she understood the task on paper, keep it safe, fed, teach it the skills needed to survive... But that wasn't being a mother. A mother could nurture, a mother could comfort. At the end of the day when she stared herself down in the mirror, she didn't believe she was capable of that.

She and Daryl hadn't discussed the issue for three days, simply sharing meals and going to bed after he got back and cleaned up from his clearing work and she finished up her duties, taking comfort in each other's presence but not saying a word about the baby. 

On the fourth day Natasha woke well before either of them needed to start their work, groaning softly and opening her eyes to the sight of Daryl lying on his side braced up on his elbow, his free hand lightly running over her still flat abdomen and his narrow eyes focused on the movement of his fingers over her bare flesh. His hand stilled when she stirred but he didn't raise his palm from her belly, his eyes flickering up to meet hers.

"Good morning." Natasha murmured, drawing her hand up to slowly brush her fingers through her lover's dark hair. He offered her a half-cocked grin and she smiled hesitantly in response, wondering just what he really thought of this whole situation. She was grateful that he seemed determined to be there for her but she also knew he had just about as many reasons to fear having a child as she did. 

Then he asked her the last thing she ever would've expected him to, glancing down at her abdomen again and asking her whether she thought it was a girl or a boy. Natasha blinked a couple times, reaching down to slip her fingers between his and shrugging on shoulder when he looked back up at her. "I... I hadn't thought about it yet I suppose. I just hope the baby's... Healthy." She said hesitantly, not at all sure what would happen.

Daryl told her about how a member of his old group had a baby and she turned out perfectly healthy when she was born, he guessed she was infected like the rest of them but it wasn't like she was going to be giving birth to 'zombie-baby.' Natasha laughed even though she knew she probably shouldn't find a joke like that funny, but she'd take anything at this point that made them both smile where this unexpected pregnancy was concerned.

Daryl chuckled too and tugged her closer to his frame, she gratefully snuggled into his side as he lay back on their small bed. She wondered how long he'd been awake silently turning over the idea in his mind, the only reason she'd been able to sleep was because she had no other choice, the fatigue of her pregnancy was far more than she ever anticipated it could be. 

"If it's a boy... I hope he's brave, tall and strong like his father." Natasha mused, the slightest of smiles gracing her pretty features. He started running his hand up and down her back, a dry chuckle escaping him at her comment. He answered back that if it was a girl he hoped she had pretty red hair like her mom, and Natasha smiled a little bigger at that.

Daryl ran his hand over Natasha’s flat belly until she woke, his gaze lifting but his hand never pulling off. He still didn’t know what it was exactly that he felt or what it was he wanted out of this but he did know that nothing would make him stay away from her now. Nothing before would have made him stay away. He was in far too deep and loved every part of it in a way he never expected to. Part of him worried mostly because Lori had a complicated birth, they had to leave her for death, bleeding out from a C-section and there was nothing that could be done in the state she was in except to put her out of her misery and shoot her in the head. He hadn’t been there but watching the aftermath, watching Rick break down like he had…

He grinned at her greeting but instead of returning it he had to ask what he had been wondering if they would ever know sooner. “Do you think it’s a boy or girl?” He questioned, watching their fingers thread together as she shrugged over at him. He nodded at her answer once, accepting that for now, “Gal from our group at the prison had a baby there. Baby’s name was Judith, called ‘er ‘Little Ass Kicker’ ‘cuz it seemed fittin’.” He smiled slightly, squeezing her fingers. “She came out normal, probably infected just like all of us but wasn’t not zombie baby eatin’ at mom from the inside or nothin’ y’know.” He shrugged and much to his surprise she laughed at his statement.

The tracker chuckled in return and tugged at her hand to pull her close to his frame, lying down with her on his side and wrapping his arms back around her so they could rest a bit longer. Natasha broke the short silence with a statement about how if it was a boy she hoped he was like his dad. Being called ‘dad’ was a concept that both worried and frightened Daryl but also made his heart flutter at the idea. It was something he never thought he would be called, at least not by a kid he actually wanted to have. That surprised him too… that he wasn’t pushing her away and claiming it wasn’t his. He wanted this child with her most importantly.

He traced his hands up and down her back, gently starting to massage her warm skin and placing a light kiss on her shoulder where he could. He chuckled, “If it’s a girl… I hope it’s got pretty red hair like her mother.” He sighed, seeing her smile and it was one of his favorite things to witness, “Hope she’s got your full lips… bright eyes and… that smile of yours that can make me drop to my god damned knees.” He laughed out, his own smile genuine as he leaned forward and kissed her full pout that had turned up when she laughed at him continuing his complimenting.

They rested for a while longer and he gently pulled back to look at her, their hands laced together a bit awkwardly but he didn’t mind one bit. The fingers of his free hand ran through her hair, offering a smile but it was far more hesitant than before. “Natasha.” He muttered, waiting for her response and she met his eyes, his gaze full of affection and on the edge of his tongue was what he wanted to say. He stayed completely still, totally silent, hating himself for not being able to speak up but she cupped his face and drew him down pressing her lips to his and murmuring that she knew.

Daryl returned the contact slow and sweet, nodding when they broke apart and again she claimed she knew. “Least we got a place, y’know? If it lasts we’ll be okay.” He promised, feeling a stronger need to reassure her. She smiled at him, her eyes looking a little misty likely from him having said or rather hinted at what he wanted to say. She shifted and pulled away from him suddenly, getting up in her panties and jogging over to the little waste basket in the corner to heave out the contents of her stomach.

They weren’t sure exactly how far along she was and they likely might never know but he did understand that… morning sickness would happen. He rolled over and gave her a second as she coughed and cursed as she spit into the basket and soon he got off the bed in his boxers, taking her hair from her hands and gently tucking it aside with his own fingers. His free hand rubbed up and down her back in a comforting gesture. “Least we got plenty of food ta’ fill yah back up.” He muttered, making her laugh lightly but nudge at his side claiming she didn’t really want to think about eating at the moment. “Better?” He asked when she finally stopped heaving like she had been, straightening out and wiping her mouth with her forearm muttering about how stupid this was.

“It’s not stupid.” Daryl argued, hoping in part that she didn’t mean the pregnancy in its entirety. “Doc said it wouldn’t last anyhow. I’ll get yah some water.”

Natasha leaned back on her haunches as she recovered from her bout of stomach upset, thanking her lover for fetching her the canteen in their room so she could take a few swigs of water.

"I know, I'm just... Not accustomed to being sick, weak... Vulnerable." She responded, saying the last term like it was a four letter word. In the spy's existence opening oneself up to any form of vulnerability meant death or worse, so all this extra fatigue and sudden spells of nausea that came on with no warning were playing havoc on her state of mind. It had hardly been a week that she'd been showing real symptoms of pregnancy and while she wouldn't necessarily keep getting sick like this, she was only going to get more vulnerable the further her pregnancy progressed.

Daryl nodded at her words and gently rubbed her back as she continued to drink, waiting till she was finished to take the canister back from her and he helped her stand back up and sit back down on their bed. He plopped down next to her and she felt silly for complaining considering how like he said conditions were far better for them now than they might have been, they had shelter, food and even basic healthcare readily available so in this day and age they were actually incredibly lucky all things considered.

But that didn't change the fact that she'd never done anything like this before or ever had any expectation of doing so, and she was more than a little concerned by the fact that in her mind she was about the least qualified person on earth to be a mother. Her tracker's rough voice broke her from her anxious thoughts, telling her that he would be there to protect her no matter what, so she didn't have to worry so much about being vulnerable.

Natasha smiled at him, her eyes welling with sudden tears at his words. They both knew it wasn't a promise he could really keep, especially going out and clearing walkers like he was doing but it was important work he was suited for and she knew better than most how important it was for him to stick to his duty of protecting not just her but all the people who called this base home now. Still, she appreciated that he would make such a promise and Natasha knew that Daryl would do anything in his power to keep his word.

She took his hand and drew it into her lap, squeezing his fingers tightly and glancing at him through her fall of fiery hair. "Thank you. I'd offer to kiss you, but..." Natasha said in a playful tone, tossing her head back at the wastebasket she'd just been sick in. "I don't know that the notion is all that appealing at the moment." She finished, flushing slightly when her tracker reached up to brush her hair back and gently tugged her towards him.

Daryl offered Natasha water for her to keep down as much as she could hoping it would ease her stomach a bit at least for now. He absently ran his hand over her back and held her upright, waiting for her to take a few easy gulps before offering to aid her over to the bed again.

Their room was bare and basic but it was homey enough for the couple considering who they were and where they both came from. Situations like this currently minus the apocalypse was something they were both accustomed to. He walked her back to the mattress, helping her sit though she wasnt big enough that she needed it. Things were far better for them now than they had been but that didnt mean the conditions didn't suck how they were.

He could see in her face that she was closing in on herself and maybe he wasnt doing the greatest job comforting her either. He gave her a moment or two before speaking up about her worry wanting to do what he could. "I'll uhh... I'll always take care of you and protect you and the baby." He muttered softly, watching her expression change as she accepted his words.

He smiled as she took his hand and her as watered as she pulled their entwined fingers in her lap, squeezing his digits gently. Natasha smiled and indicated over tp the waste basket making mention that she would kiss him for his sentiment but didnt think it seemed appealing. The tracker smirked at her, his free hand reaching up and sweeping her hair away from her face, cupping the back of her head and drawing his lover to him.

She flushed pink in the cheeks at him even encouraging her but he didnt let her up for a second, pressing his lips to hers and lingering there to feather affection crossed her mouth. He pulled away and looked her over his blue eyes darting back and forth to both of hers. "Pretty sure I've had worse. Doesnt matter... for the record you taste damn good all the time." He chuckled, kissing her a final time before wrapping his arm around her and holding her against him for a good chunk of the morning.

\----

Daryl took less runs the farther along natasha got figuring she would want him around and with the way she was clingy on and off it seemed like a good idea. She still wasnt but a month or so along... no way of knowing for certain but according to the doctors she was doing just fine and so was their baby.

"Sick again?" He muttered into the darkness, hearing her alongside the bed getting sick once more. Seemed to be a common thing. He reached over and ran his hand along her back from where he was resting on the bed. She answered but sounded like she had been crying, pulling away from his touch and he sighed.

He gave her a minute or two to gather herself before getting up to grab a shirt and a pair of jeans. "Lie down. I'll sneak yah some crackers up." He told her, dressing and heading out to do just as he said. They kept it quiet for the most part about their baby but the few she worked with who knew left the kitchen open to them and only them so she could snack as needed.

The tracker came back up to their room and Natasha was curled up in bed. She was crying and he knew it, the normally so well composed woman had more break downs now than he could count and he knew it was from stress in part. He sighed lightly and closed their door, wandering over to her and lying down in bed, wrapping his arms around her and cuddling up tight against her back. "Don't cry." He cooed in the gentlest tone he could manage in his rough voice.

He ran his hands along her belly and kissed her back and shoulder. "We gotta tell some of the group. Ease the stress. You can't be cooped up in here, Luce." He muttered, shifting when she started to roll over to face him and instantly started kissing on him. He lightly returned each one, arching a brow at her and holding her a short distance away. "We're good, Natasha. We ain't got nowhere else. What do you wanna do?" He asked softly.

 

Natasha sighed through her sniffles as she kissed him, internally cursing herself for falling prey to her emotions so easily. She understood clinically that pregnancy played havoc with one's hormones but knowing it as a simple, irrelevant factoid and actually living it were two entirely different things. 

Daryl's reasoning was logical and she knew she couldn't exactly hide out in their room for the rest of her pregnancy but she still couldn't help but cringe at the thought of her 'condition' becoming public and having to deal with the looks, questions and even well-intended comments.

"I want..." Natasha began, taking a deep breath as her voice wobbled, a highlight reel of all the unreasonable things she desired playing through her mind's eye: Clint alive, a safer world to bring up a child, a hot bath in her old apartment in Rome that had always been her favorite safe house. She shook her head and kissed her lover again more firmly this time, knowing if she said anything right now it wouldn't be based in reason and so she opted for one of the few things she wanted that she actually could have, her tracker's strong embrace.

Natasha deepened the contact and slid her hand down Daryl's chest to stroke his length through his jeans, in seconds he was hard as steel for her but he pulled back enough to catch her still teary gaze, asking her in a husky tone if it was all right if they had each other. The spy's delicate brows furrowed in confusion, cupping his face and smiling at him. "Why wouldn't it be all right? Clearly you don't find me thatunappealing yet despite my condition." She responded glancing down at the straining bulge in his jeans and back in a tone that was equal parts joking and apprehensive, part of her genuinely worried that he no longer found her attractive just knowing she was pregnant.

Daryl tripped over his response, hurriedly assuring her that he was very attracted to her, but he wasn't sure if them having sex would harm the growing baby inside her. Natasha bit back the urge to laugh, reminding herself that the man didn't exactly have an opportunity to know any better about these sorts of things and it was good that he had their child's best interests at heart even above his own... Obvious needs. He was already a far better father than he realized.

The redhead smiled warmly at her tracker, scooting closer and tugging at his shoulder to encourage him to roll atop her, craning her head up to nip and kiss her way up his throat to his ear making him groan roughly at the contact but still he held himself back. "I promise you nothing you do can hurt the child." She whispered, scratching her nails through his hair and down over his back, hooking on leg over his hip and goading him to press down against her.

"Now give me what I want." She prompted in a breathless murmur, already riled up just from knowing how badly he wanted her. Natasha hummed with want as he finally settled down, canting his hips to hers and grinding his erection against her center, turning his head in to capture her lips and she responded eagerly, one good thing about her hormones being off kilter was that she had never been more turned on by such simple contact like a light kiss over her jaw, or even a quick brush of fingers over her shoulder. Then again, maybe it wasn't all due to hormones, maybe it was just Daryl himself and the fact that she'd never done this with a man she truly cared about before. 

Daryl pulled back to look at Natasha when her hand bore down on his arousal through his jeans, his breathing heavy and his voice growing husky with his need for his lover. He was apprehensive with having her since she was pregnant not because he didn’t want her but because he feared if it was allowed or… if she was able. “Can we still… y’know?” He asked, stumbling a little over his words but she cupped his face a mentioned something about him clearly being still attracted to her.

He hadn’t missed the note of worry in her voice that he actually might not want her in this state but that wasn’t at all true. Every part of him still craved her, craved being close to her in any number of ways. “Naw… Naw Luce I still want you an’ all that it’s just…” He stammered out, his blue eyes raking up her frame and his hand absently running along her belly. “I didn’t know if we could even have sex or if… it’d hurt the baby or you or somethin’.” The tracker admitted, following her prompting before she even answered in words if it was okay or not.

He rolled to lie over her, groaning as she kissed and bit along his warm flesh but he refused to cave until he verbally got reassurance that he wasn’t going to do anything wrong by having her like he wanted. Her nails raked through his hair and she swore nothing he did would hurt their baby, muttering against his ear and the feeling of her breath against his neck made him shiver slightly. Natasha’s leg hooked around his hip, drawing him down to force him to align their bodies and grind against her.

The tracker fought little against her pushing at him with her heel, finally caving when she ordered him to give into her own desires. He rolled his hips slowly into her, riling them both up further and hearing her moan as he simply kissed at her shoulder up to her neck. She purred at him, muttering his name in the way she always did that got him going and made it hard for him to fight her. He smiled and sealed their lips, ravishing her mouth and canting their bodies together until he couldn’t stand it anymore.

His fingers hooked into her top, pulling it off over her head and slowly easing her out of her bra, her breasts full and tempting. He growled involuntarily at the sight of her, making her giggle up at him, “What?” He teased, mouthing at her earlobe and grunting as he worked his way to her chest, hovering until she pleaded for him to continue. He wasn’t always the sweetest of all guys but he was rather playful in terms of Natasha, enjoying the way he could make her laugh and smile. Two of his favorite things.

Daryl kissed her chest, his hands kneading at her flesh and making her moan up at him, another thing he quite liked. Her breathing was ragged and harsh much more than normal and when she yanked at his hair he knew his reign wasn’t going to last much longer, her hips rising up to roll eagerly against him, making him groan at the feeling when her hand shot down to work open his pants, desperate to get him bare. “Easy.” He chuckled, grabbing her hand from his crotch and coaxing it up to rest by her head, kissing her one final time before reaching between them to tug down her bottoms and work them over her hips and thighs, shedding the garment and tracing his fingers up her thighs.

Natasha hummed at his touch and before she could request it he tugged off his shirt, worked open his jeans and left himself bare when he settled back over her, grinding his bare sex against her center. She wasn’t huge but without clothes she showed far more than it seemed with them. He smiled at her and hitched her legs back around his waist, “Tell me if you’re not feelin’ it okay?” He requested, gripping his shaft to trace his tip along her clit and make her arch up against him off the mattress. She nodded, her pupils blown wide with her desire to have him and she promised she would tell him to stop if she ever felt like that, making a point to tell him she was nowhere near that side of things.

Daryl grinned and watched her face contort as he pushed into her heat with a ragged sigh, his pace slow to start, letting her adjust to him being buried inside her body. She pushed her heels into his rear again to encourage him to take her harder but still he worried that too much would affect two of the people he truly cared about, Natasha and their baby.

Natasha mewled as Daryl stretched and filled her, clinging to him tightly and tipping her hips up into his motions trying to get him to take her harder. She could feel him holding back even still and she swept her hands up to grip his face, making him look at her and pushing at him again with the heels of her feet.

"Harder." She demanded in Russian, one of a collection of choice terms Daryl had learned by heart over their more heated exchanges. He groaned and slowly buried himself deeper but she could still see the seed of doubt in his eye and she drew her mouth up to barely brush her lips against his as she spoke again in English, "I promise you you're not going to hurt us. Please Daryl, I need to feel you..." She demanded, sealing their lips in a fervent kiss, nipping at his lower lip to spur him further.

Finally he seemed convinced, growling into her kiss and driving into her harder, gripping her tight and sending jolts of electricity up and down her body. They broke apart to gasp for breath and Daryl craned his head down to mouth at her cleavage making her moan and arch up so he could reach her sensitive peaks like she wanted. She was nearing her peak and her whole body started to tremble, helpless to aid her lover when he suddenly started shifting their bodies. 

He kept them connected as he rolled them both to their sides, getting her settled comfortably against him and hiking her leg high up on his torso, resuming his hard, rapid motions and Natasha had to turn her face into the pillow to muffle her loud cries of pleasure enough to keep from being heard outside their shut door.

Daryl tucked his hand under the pillow and turned her head back to face him, his mouth crashing onto hers to keep her quieter but it was obvious that he didn't want her to hide her face from him as she came undone. He drove into her frantically till she was a shuddering mess against him, swallowing her moans and coming deep inside her as her walls flexed and fluttered around him in ecstasy. 

They rode out their shared high till they were spent, breaking apart once more and breathing raggedly in the wake of what they shared. Daryl slipped from her heat and loosened his grip on her thigh keeping it up above his waist and she let it lazily fall down off of him, giggling a bit in spite of herself. 

"There, see? No harm done." She assured him, gently brushing her hand over his sweat dampened face and dropping down to let her palm rest just above her tracker's heart. Daryl grinned at her and leaned in to place a soft kiss on her lips.

"I think... I'm ready to go and get my own breakfast today, instead of sending my faithful Raven out to fetch it for me." Natasha informed her lover, flushing a bit at his encouraging response. She had isolated herself because she was overwhelmed by everything, losing her partner, being pregnant when she never thought such a thing possible, but now... Now that she'd had some time to get her head more wrapped around her current reality and she was sure her lover was going to stay by her side, she felt more ready and able to face the world again for what it was worth.

Daryl slipped from Natasha’s body, his eyes heavy from his pleasure as he did, pleased to have had her like he had been wanting for a long while now. He had grown far too accustomed to them having each other every night and then when she started showing a bit things came in waves. He eased his hold on her thigh, his hooded gaze sticking onto her pretty face as her hand ran over his sweaty face, making him smile at her light touches.

He kissed at her lips softly, holding her close and a little more relaxed now that their little tryst was out of their system. She made mention that she thought she was ready to face the world and get her own food rather than having him bring up her meals for the day while she mostly hid out in their room. Part of her reasoning was understandable, she was sick on and off and that made it harder for her to really want to be out conversing without an escape but maybe now if she opened up people would be more understanding. He was more worried about her in regards to everyone discovering the kid was his. After all he would never win man of the year or sexiest something or other and yet here he was with this little redhead number curled up against him.

“The Raven doesn’t mind carin’ for the Moon.” He muttered, lingering against her lips so he could lightly feather kisses across them. “But I’m all for showin’ yah off too.” The tracker assured her, the couple spending a good chunk of the morning idly touching in bed without many words spoken between them both.

Eventually Natasha managed the energy to sit upright and let him grab her clothes, watching her dress until they were both ready to go out for the day. Daryl guided his lover out of the room and to the front section of the building where he could hear others voices traveling up the hall to where they were on the steps. He could feel her tensing up, knew she was starting to close in on herself out of fear of what people would think and say but in little under a few minutes he coaxed her down to the mess hall where everyone else was starting their meal.

\----

The couple hadn’t exactly come out and told everyone about their pregnancy but a few grew privy before they were entirely ready to make it completely known around the building. Beth trotted over to the couple only a couple days after Natasha finally worked herself out of hiding and started eating with the group again. “Miss Romanoff?” She uttered in her usual sweet and soft southern drawl. Natasha stopped in her tracks, correcting her on her name, telling her not to treat her like an idol or superior in this world. “Oh but I do. Daryl doesn’t take to many an’ my mama always said ta’ treat any man or woman like I’d do her and Daddy.” She informed the other.

Natasha stared at her, blinking over the girl’s shoulder at Daryl who was already gathering up his afternoon meal so he could sit with her while he had the time. The blonde smiled, knowing that she put the woman on edge mostly because of her outbursts before and the way she brought up Clint’s death like she had. She knew full well she was having to tread very carefully to keep from pushing her over the edge again especially in her state it wouldn’t be the best of situations.

“Anyways one of the other girls and me we found some old clothes… not worn out and contaminated but looked like old uniform type stuff and she taught me ta’ cut ‘em down, size ‘em for a baby. At least the softer shirts… Some of them were pretty tattered.” Beth extended her hands and folded up were a few onesies and a couple shirts for a newborn, trying to keep to the side and out of most everyone’s view. “I know you’re not tellin’ anybody but my Daddy always talked about pregnant women nestin’… He was a vet but it’s no different. He says they hole up in one place sometimes, mostly new mother’s and your umm… Well your chest is…” She flushed, clearing her throat at the look Natasha gave her for even indicating to her body.

Beth ducked her head and handed the offerings to the redhead, “I won’t tell anybody. Swear it.” She vowed, hugging an arm around herself to loop and grab her opposite bicep, trying to soothe her unease even being in front of Natasha like this. She shifted awkwardly from foot to foot when the other remained still and silent, trying to think of something to say. “Did he tell yah about Judith?” She smiled, her voice getting lower again to avoid being overheard even over the light crowd.

Natasha said nothing still so she continued on, “He was real good with her. Surprised everybody for as rugged as he looks. Rough and crispy around the edges but soft in the middle kinda like Mama’s Apple Strudels.” The young blonde laughed, “He even risked himself a time or two after Lori died to get Judith formula. He won’t say it but the girl’d be dead if it weren’t for him. Like I remember this one time we were all doin’ our own thing and it was mine and Maggie’s job to watch out for Judith, keep her safe while her Daddy was off on runs and stuff and from time to time Daryl’d come in on his own, check on her, pick her up, give ‘er his pinky and she’d go nuts over him. Imagine she felt pretty secure in his hold. He was real good at that, like he’d done it a million times.” She rattled on, not certain if Natasha was even listening to her anymore.

“I just… wanted you to know he’d be a good Dad. Daryl would. Protector instinct in him since day one, part of why even when he was an ass from time to time we trusted his judgment even over Rick’s.” She finished, smiling at Natasha again. “So how far along are you anyhow?”

Natasha listened to everything the slender blonde had to say, requiring varying degrees of self control to keep from either rolling her eyes or grimacing at the girl for what she was doing and saying, especially when she was so openly handing her a gift that made it obvious she was expecting a child. She knew in the back of her head that the truth was going to become obvious in due time but it still unnerved her that she wasn't dictating the terms of the news being revealed by letting this exchange continue.

She was about to finally break her silence and feed the girl some excuse about why she no longer had the time to talk to her, but then Beth started telling her about Daryl's interactions with a baby in the group they'd been in before, about how he'd be a good protector. 

Natasha shifted her weight from one foot to the other, carefully keeping the smile off her face when she imagined Daryl taking naturally to caring for a baby in his own way because the last thing she needed was for this girl to think she'd gotten to her. She still hadn't quite forgiven the things she'd said about her deceased partner but at least the girl seemed to recognize the need for some sort of peace offering. 

The spy's brows arched at the girl's question, wondering if the girl was resilient or foolish for coming at her with all this cheerfulness and feeling comfortable enough to ask what to Natasha was a fairly personal question. She glanced around involuntarily, wondering if any of the nearby people could hear their conversation and she murmured just above a whisper, "There's no way of knowing for certain. I could be anywhere from a month to two months along." She responded, not really even wanting to divulge that information but feeling fairly certain this girl would keep hounding her if she avoided answering the question.

Beth smiled brightly and stepped a little closer, saying that was what she figured and she started onto a litany of other questions that Natasha had no interest in answering, her frame getting tense and her eyes going frosty but the blonde seemed either unaware or unfazed by it. 

Daryl must've picked up on Natasha's discomfort, coming back over to the pair of women with a plate of food for himself and one for Natasha, nudging Beth's shoulder from behind and telling her to give the redhead some peace while she ate. Beth nodded and apologized but it was clear she was too happy to really feel apologetic and Natasha didn't miss the glint of amusement in her tracker's eyes as he looked from the young blonde to her and back.

He saw the bundle of clothes Natasha was holding and he asked Beth if she'd made them like she did Judith's, recognizing the items for what they were even folded up and tucked tightly against the spy's side under her arm. The redhead felt her heart beating a little too fast out of stress and a feeling she rarely experienced, suddenly feeling painfully self-conscious as if because Daryl had realized right off the bat what she was holding anyone and everyone else would too and the notion made her feel awkward at best.

Beth wasn’t entirely catching onto Natasha’s discomfort, something she wasn’t trying to cause but it just seemed to happen that way right now. She was only offering her the gesture out of kindness and nothing more, not selfishness and she hoped Natasha understood that she wanted to do right by her. She continued to smile at Natasha even after Daryl came up beside them, insisting that his lover needed to go and eat something.

“I figured you were between months. That’s what I guessed.” She glanced at Daryl who nudged at her shoulder to keep her from continuing on like she had, telling her that she needed to move along, leave the redhead be and get started with her day. She had to admit she appreciated that he was taking care of her like he was, that he was taking to watching over Natasha and his unborn son or daughter like he had been.

“I’m sorry.” Beth mentioned but still she lingered, giggling a little when Daryl noticed the clothes she had made, asking her if they were for the baby like she had made for Judith before. She nodded a little excitedly, “Yea. I just thought they’d need them. It’s something before you can make a run out to get stuff from like a store or somethin’. I know they’ll grow out of ‘em quickly but that’s okay. I don’t mind makin’ more ‘specially when I don’t have much else goin’ on, y’know?”

“That’s cuz yah don’t need ta’ be doin’ nothin’.” Daryl stated, nudging her again and Beth sighed claiming she wanted to help though, in any way that she could even if it was only small things for the baby. “Keep it down, alright? We’re not spreadin’ it around quite yet. Wanna do it on our own terms y’know?” He muttered, none too surprised that she even had guessed Natasha was pregnant. Beth was smart and quick, there wasn’t much you could get past her like they had been trying to do with the baby information.

Beth shifted on her feet and soon darted forward, wrapping her arms around Daryl and hugging his middle like she always did, careful not to spill the food that he held. “I swore I wouldn’t tell anybody and I won’t. I just had to do somethin’.” She mumbled, her voice muffled slightly against his chest and he grinned lightly. “Congrats. Daryl you’re gonna be an amazin’ Daddy I know it with Judith you always to—“ She was cut off by him telling her to stop, not missing his fluster for what she was saying.

“Okay get movin’, Blondie.” The tracker instructed more firmly than before. He pulled away from her, clearly uncomfortable with what she was saying considering every day he worried he would be able to play dad even by his low standards of what ‘Dad’ was. A man that was… simply there. Beth scampered off eventually and Daryl focused on Natasha beside him, handing over the tray of food but she didn’t take it, closing in on herself and asking if they could sit somewhere else. He nodded, his brow furrowing but when she tried to squish the clothes against her chest he knew it was because she was becoming more and more uncomfortable.

Daryl slipped his arm around her, balancing both plates in his opposite arm and nodding his head to the door. “It’s up to you, y’know. I’m not gonna make yah tell anyone, Beth just… Has a way an’ she’s tryin’ ta’ get on your good side. She wasn’t tryin’ ta’ rat yah out or nothin’.” He promised, leading her out to the hall that was far clearer and sitting down outside, taking the clothes from her hands and tucking them away in his lap to get her to stop staring at them like some kind of foreign object. “Eat up.” He instructed simply.

 

Natasha behind Daryl down the hall and outside the building that had been converted into a community mess. A ghost of a smile crossed her features as she recalled some of Beth's words in particular, imagining her lover cradling a baby warm and safe in his arms, going out on dangerous supply runs just for the child's sake.

She knew Daryl was right, like he'd said the girl was just trying to build a bridge, do a kindness for her, Daryl and their child. It wasn't her fault that Natasha hardly knew how to handle herself or the situation in general and even at the best of times wasn't the warmest person towards those she didn't know well. As her tracker led them away from the crowd inside out into the fresh air she made a deal with herself that she would try and make an effort to be nicer to the girl who was like Daryl's family.

The pair walked a short ways out from the building to a grassy patch next to one of the communal gardens, and the redhead's train of thought went from what Daryl had told her about Beth being like his family to what his real family had been like. They hadn't shared all the nitty gritty of their less than ideal lives but she had observed enough to know his childhood had been a nightmare like hers, just with different details.

She settled on the grass beside the tracker when he plopped down, nodding when he instructed her to eat and appreciating the way he went out of his way to look out for her. The pair ate in silence for a few minutes but it wasn't the easy quiet they were used to having between them with so many heavy questions still hanging above their heads.

"Daryl, did you ever... Before the world ended, did you ever think you might want to be a father?" Natasha asked in a quiet voice, broaching the difficult subject simply because she knew they'd been putting off such topics for too long already. The redhead glanced over at the tracker who was tearing into his food, taking a moment to chew the large bite he'd taken and sitting for a long moment in silence before responding.

Daryl settled on the grass with Natasha, sitting in far more awkward silence together now than.normal. he tore into his food without saying anything to her aside from telling her she needed to eat. She picked at her food for a bit taking a bite here or there and when he looked up to meet her gaze she broke the quiet streak.

Her question made him pause, his narrow eyes flicking up to her gaze. He finished chewing up his bite and took a moment or two to think... consider her question and decide what he was going to say. He didnt want to lie to her. Not ever. "No." He answered simply, wiping his mouth and setting his food aside for the moment.

He could tell that his answer wasnt what she wanted to hear but she also seemed to accept that. "My life was different then. Maybe I wanted kids... I dont know." The tracker muttered. "Not in the life I had. Not with the family I had." He told her, lying back on the grass on his elbows while they spoke. He shook his head, taking a moment to say much else.

He pulled at the grass beneath them and played with a blade or two. "My dad... he beat the crap outta me. As many nights as he could. Mostly after my mom died. She was a fucking drunk. House caught fire and I watched it burn when I was eight." He shrugged it off. "Ain't the kinda shit I wanted ta bring anyone into... knew if I had a girl. Merle would've done shit..."

His voice got soft but anger remained in his tone. "Dad woulda smacked yah both around. Thought I was doin the world a favor by takin it on my own." He looked over at her and reached out to rest his hand on her belly, shaking his head. "With you it's different. I wanna give yah everythin... keep yah safe here even if it ain't ideal or whatever in this shit hole."

 

Natasha's heart bled with sympathy for her tracker as he spoke, but she appreciated his honesty with her all the same. When he shifted on the ground to cover her abdomen with his large hand her eyes pricked with tears at his words, and for the first time she didn't feel foolish for her pregnancy hormones making her react in a more emotional way than typical for her.

She smiled softly and put her smaller hand over top of his, gripping him securely and nodding in quiet acceptance of his desire to keep her and their baby safe. Natasha could see in his eyes that he had his own questions, but maybe he wasn't sure how to go about asking so she figured she'd just take a shot in the dark and hope it was what he wanted to know.

"My childhood was... Brutal, to say the least. My whole life, starting from when I was a small child until now has been about deception, violence, death..." Natasha's watery blue gaze darkened and she blinked rapidly to try and get her tears in check before they flowed over her long lashes. "I think having this child growing inside me is the first truly pure thing I've ever done." She admitted, her full lower lip quivering and Daryl raised his hand to cup her face, drawing her nearer to him to kiss her softly. 

Natasha couldn't keep her tears in check anymore and they left wet marks on his cheeks as they kissed, but he didn't seem to mind. They broke apart and the spy smiled timidly at her lover, settling more comfortably on the grass next to him and they finished their meals only now the quiet between them was comfortable again.

\---  
SHIELD only had the resources and manpower to maintain a handful of self-sustaining safe zones like the one Natasha and Daryl had brought their refugees to, but at least there were a few pockets of sanity left in the world.

The progression was slow but the new people were gradually integrated into the community, over the next few months they worked to build lives for themselves and even got established enough to help a sporadic trickle of newcomers get situated as well as they arrived. 

Natasha's pregnancy got more and more apparent as time went on, no formal announcement was made but the redhead found that as people noticed her growing belly in the community she was quickly becoming a sort of symbol of hope and life and she wasn't sure if she'd ever get comfortable with that. People would stop her on her way places and ask to touch her belly, congratulate her and tell her again and again how much they were looking forward to seeing a baby again.

She supposed it was better than negative attention but it was still a lot for the very private woman to deal with, so Natasha had no qualms whatsoever about pulling rank and acquiring a small home near the outskirts of the community that was still within the safety of the walls and outlying perimeter but a decent distance away from the main grouping of buildings and public areas. 

Natasha hadn't had any troubles with morning sickness for about a month now, and not being so run down from feeling sick left her in a better mood most of the time now. The redhead was walking through the open air 'market' that was always set up in the center of the base with her tracker who had just returned from a clearing mission, his dark hair still wet from going through the somewhat invasive decontamination process.

Neither of them really needed to do the things most couples did like holding hands as they walked or making idle small talk, but it was obvious to the more careful observer that they were attached to each other by the way Daryl hovered near her and occasionally held his arm up just in case as Natasha leaned over a table to look at one item or another, or the way the redhead who hardly showed emotion to anyone kept smiling at the tracker for no reason.

Natasha put a couple carrots and potatoes in the little basket she was carrying on her arm, freezing suddenly and dropping the item she was holding out of shock. Daryl reacted instantly, putting his hand on her back and asking her worriedly if she was all right, his whole frame getting tense and anxious as Natasha pressed her hand palm open on her growing belly.

It was like nothing Natasha had ever felt before. A distinct flutter, stronger than the little blips she'd felt sporadically the last few days that could just as easily been a bubble or a twitch. What she was feeling now was totally different and persisting, and suddenly the spy was hit hard with the reality that there really was a real, living being growing inside her.

"Daryl... Give me your hand." Natasha stammered quietly, not caring that they were still in the middle of the market with several people around, not wanting her lover to miss this if it stopped. She grabbed his wrist and pressed his hand firmly into her belly looking up at him expectantly waiting for him to feel what she was.

Daryl’s hand shot out to keep Natasha steady should she start to tumble. She wasn’t huge considering she was normally a small woman to begin with but the added girth did seem to set her off balance from time to time. She dropped hold of everything in her grasp making him worry and respond in seconds flat, pushing his hand to her back and hoping she wasn’t having trouble… pain or something that indicated something was wrong with the baby.

“You alright, Luce?” He asked, looking her over as if he might be able to visibly see what it was that was happening to her. She didn’t respond as fast as he would have liked, her hand pressing over her growing belly and he stared at her, waiting for some sort of indication that she was okay at least. Her eyes went wide with shock and he repeated his question, stepping further into her space and about ready to scoop her up and run her back to the infirmary at central for her to get check over.

The redhead requested for his hand and before he could offer it or ask her why, she took his wrist and force his palm open against her belly. He stood very still, remained completely quiet and watched her face carefully sensing that she was forcing herself to remain relaxed. “What?” He muttered, worry crossing his face once more but she hushed him and indicated to her belly and he felt it once relaxed, a flutter of life against his large hand beneath hers.

He pressed his hand more firmly against her belly and he froze to feel another kick or two, remaining quiet because he didn’t know how else to openly react. He wasn’t the most expressive person but that didn’t stop him from kneeling down in front of her belly with the crowd of people paying them little to mind at all and he caressed her stomach along the front and over both sides. “Hey.” He whispered to her stomach, his eyes flickering over the entirety of it, watching his hands run back and forth.

Natasha smiled down at him when he caught her gaze and he grinned up at her crookedly, “I didn’t think we’d be able to feel ‘em anytime soon…” He muttered, straightening back out and pressing his lips to hers, seeing the tears in her eyes and he figured she was wondering the same thing that he was. If it was a boy or a girl they were feeling in there, how well they were holding up so far considering their limited medical capabilities there was no way of knowing for sure every little detail that they might know had they lived in a different world. “Is that the first time?” He asked, trying to suppress his laughter out of happiness.

Natasha nodded and looked back down at her rounded front, gently running her hands over his still touching her belly. "Yes, the first time I was sure it was the baby anyway." She responded happily, seeming to remember suddenly that they were in the middle of a public area and glancing around self-consciously.

The pair finished their shopping and headed back to their little home tucked away from the communal area, Natasha busied herself with cutting up her vegetables to roast in the small wood burning stove for their evening meal. She felt the baby stirring in her womb again as she worked, stopping to press her hands to her belly and smiling absently to herself. 

She got back to her task of cooking, starting hum an old Russian lullaby without really being aware of it. The spy had hardly any good memories of her past life but that piece of music she'd danced to as a young ballerina had always stuck with her and gave her peace of mind.

Natasha bent to put the vegetables in the oven, huffing a little over her belly as she straightened and bracing her lower back for a second with her hands. "I'm not even that far along yet, you're going to wear me out little one." She said in a soft tone, looking up suddenly at the sound of a low chuckle from the doorway. 

Daryl stood leaning in the door jam and Natasha's cheeks burned, "How long have you been standing there?" She asked, tucking her curls behind her ear awkwardly. The tracker pushed away from where he'd been posting up, responding that he'd been there long enough to hear her song. The spy flushed a deeper shade of pink and she started wiping off the knife she used to cut the vegetables up with, turning away from her lover to try and hide some of her fluster.

Daryl crossed the room and put his hand lightly on her shoulder, telling her not to be embarrassed and that he liked the sound of her singing. Natasha looked back up at him hesitantly but saw nothing but honesty in his narrow gaze, smiling and turning to face him more fully again. "Thank you. I hope the baby likes it, I don't really know many other tunes suitable for children." She mused, relaxing at his smile in response to her words.

Natasha stood up on her toes and pressed her lips softly to Daryl's, he was far more comfortable with physical contact with her at least but she still was usually the one to make the first move when seeking affection. He responded eagerly, kissing her fervently and pulling her closer to his frame, making her heart race.

A knock at the door startled them both and they broke apart, Natasha laughed a little, prodding her lover to go and answer it when he seemed reluctant to interrupt their contact. He went to the door and opened it, revealing Beth who had her typical bright smile and a basket on her arm which made Natasha wonder what offering the girl might have.


End file.
